The Fall of Ash
by 1TruEmperor
Summary: Aurum, leader of Team ASHS, arrives in Vale to fight in the Vytal Festival for Haven Academy. But when a team mission goes south, he discovers all is not well in Vale. Torn between his teammate and a certain blondie, Aurum must work through his relationship issues if he is to take on the White Fang and come out alive. Volumes 2 and 3. NOT COMPLETE YET
1. Chapter 1

**Hello and welcome to my story, The Fall of Ash. This is a story I came up after watching the ending of RWBY Volume 3. Basically, the story follows an OC I have created as he lives the events of Volumes 2 and 3. I try to keep the story as close to canon as possible but the story will not be following Team RWBY's storyline. Instead, it will be focused more on a Team ASHS as they deal with their own conflicts/villains. But because this story is a pairing between Yang Xiao Long and my OC, plan on watching watching the team's separate story's come together quite a bit.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of its characters. That all belongs to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, a man who I respect with my whole being. He opened up this wonderful world to all of us RT fans and continues to inspire me to follow my dream. All I ask is that the OCs be considered mine so that I don't discredit his, as well as Rooster Teeth's, work.**

 **Chapter 1**

"Ugh, it feels so good to walk around," Henna Asaty stretched her dark floral inked arms to the sky. "God, I thought that flight would never end."

"What are you talking about? You slept through most of it," Slate Lager said, wrapping his arm around Henna with one of his sly grins.

"So? What's your point?" Henna forced him to duck aside with a sharp jab at his side.

Slate gave a roar and wrapped his massive arms around his girlfriend, who squealed with delight, drawing glances from onlookers and the couple's two teammates.

"We've been in Vale for about ten minutes and you two already need to find a room," Silvia Lager said, rolling her eyes at her twin.

"Hmm… a room sounds pretty nice," Slate smirked, but he still put Henna down.

"Considering we all share a room, that's gross," Silvia said to her twin.

"Oh, common sis. Grow up a little. Everyone does it."

"Not on my team," another voice said from the back of the group. "And more importantly, not in my room."

Slate, Silvia, and Henna turned and stared at the fourth member, and leader, of their team.

"Silvia, looks like we will need to make sure these two behave," Aurum Aureate continued, pushing past Slate and Henna. "Guys, remember we're representing Haven Academy while we're here, so behave."

The group were all dressed in their school uniforms. Each wore a black jacket with gray trim, a white undershirt and matching white band on their left arms. The boys wore black trousers, while the two girls had a gray and black checkered skirt. The uniforms were built for fashion and not functionality, as the four knew quite well as the sun's rays followed them where ever they went. The only really striking things about their uniforms was that it was a real contrast to Silvia and Aurum's natural hair colors, silver and gold.

Their school, Haven Academy, was the Huntsmen school of the Kingdom of Mistral. All of them were Huntsmen and Huntresses in training, preparing for the day when they would defend the four kingdoms of Mistral, Vale, Vacuo, and Atlas from the Grimm, monsters intent on the destruction of mankind.

"I'll behave if you-know-who does," Slate said darkly.

It didn't take much for Slate to bring up the topic Aurum was tired of arguing. "Good god Slate, forget about Sun. Leave him alone, okay?"

"Leave him alone? In case you didn't notice, he wasn't on the ship with the rest of his team."

"He came early, so what?"

"He stole away aboard a different boat," Slate said, pointing to emphasize his point. "Tell me that is not something a criminal would do."

"I admit that is weird, but why does it matter?" Aurum sighed.

"It matters because Sun's a thief," Slate insisted. Henna rolled her eyes, having heard this argument numerous times. Silvia avoided making eye contact with her brother. She agreed that Sun wasn't the best of people, but unlike her brother she did not feel as strongly about it.

"So was I," Aurum reminded him.

"Yeah, but you're different," Slate pointed out.

"How am I different? You mean because I am not a Faunus?"

"No, that has nothing to do with this," Slate insisted. "I mean you no longer steal and break the law. Sun does it without a second thought."

"Look, I am not going to have this debate with you again." Aurum felt a migraine beginning to form. He had had to deal with Slate's complaints about Sun ever since Aurum had been made Team ASHS's leader. Ever since laying eyes on each other, Slate and Sun had hated each other. Sun was much more cool about it, but Silvia was the levelheaded one of the twins, not Slate. Every chance he got, Slate would take a jab at Sun, whether that be with words or actual fighting. The rest of Team ASHS had tried to rein in their teammate, but they couldn't always stop Slate and Sun from having a go at each other.

Most days, Aurum could ignore Slate's comments about Sun, but with the Vytal Festival tournament approaching? No, he did not need this extra stress. If they wanted to perform well for their school against the other three Huntsmen Academies, Team ASHS would have to be working at a hundred percent, not worried about what Sun Wukong was up to.

Massaging his temples, Aurum continued, "While we're in Vale, leave Sun alone."

"I will if he stays in line."

Aurum figured that was the best he was going to get from Slate. He sighed. "Silvia, where are we?"

"Commercial District," she replied, pausing to look into a shop window. "If we stay on this road we will be back where we got off the boat in the Industrial District."

"How do you know all this?" Henna asked, joining Silvia at the window.

Silvia passed Henna a slip of paper from her pocket.

Henna opened it and snorted. "Really? You got a map of Vale?"

"Might as well know the streets if we are going to be staying here for the next few weeks."

"Gosh, you are so weird. You do realize you have all this on your Scroll right?"

Silvia snatched her map back. "I prefer something more physical."

Henna rolled her eyes. She was a child who whole heartedly embraced technology while Silvia used it but favored more tangible stuff. "Hey, anyone wanna go back and change into something not as warm and constricting?"

"You were the one in a hurry to explore the city," Aurum reminded Henna. When they got to the kingdom of Vale, the students of Haven Academy had been transferred from the boat straight to Vale's own Huntsmen school, Beacon Academy. They had barely put their personal belongings, including their weapons, in the dorms they would be in for their visit before Henna was rushing the team out the door to wander the streets of Vale. The soft sea breeze had done little to combat the alliance of their black school uniforms and blaring sun.

"But I wouldn't mind changing into something more comfortable," Aurum said, tugging at his collar. The team turned around, retracing their path back to Beacon.

Aurum had been impressed with Vale, so far. Up until two years ago, when he had been accepted into Haven, he had been living in a cramped rundown apartment in one of Mistral's cities. It had been rough for him and his family, so that was where he had learned to fight until he was taken under the wing of a retired Huntsman living on the street, Gelwaz.

Vale was different from the cities Aurum knew. For one, Vale was clean and unpolluted. Vale also felt more peaceful. Everyone Team ASHS had encountered was calm and happy, which was weird considering the rumors Aurum had heard about the recent happenings in Vale. Despite passive atmosphere, there were signs of unrest in the city, signs that Aurum could see from his time on the streets. Every Dust shop they had passed was closed and Aurum had not seen many Faunus out and about.

Aurum was by no means prejudice towards the Faunus, considering he had spent the majority of his life "working" beside them. Although mostly human, Faunus had animal features, usually a tail or an extra set of animal ears, although Aurum had seen some with weirder body parts (even pro-Faunus advocates could admit cow udders was a little freaky). The Faunus had been facing discrimination from humanity for decades, leading to multiple conflicts and one particular major war. Nowadays the Faunus technically had equal rights but there were a large number of humans who viewed them as little less than vermin.

But Aurum knew that despite the fears and hatred of others, the Faunus were still a large part of society, especially in Vale. Technically they were still a minority, but the Faunus community was still quite large. Aurum had expected to see more Faunus. Not exactly everywhere, but Aurum had thought they would be more present in Vale then they were in Mistral.

So far, he had seen no Faunus except for a few at Beacon.

To not see as many of them lead Aurum to think something must be going on. He had heard that there had been more action in Vale from the White Fang, an organization that had been originally focused on securing equal rights for Faunus. A few years ago, the leadership had changed and the White Fang began to take militant action to achieve their goals. Now, the White Fang were seen as little more than terrorists. Mistral did not have as much of a problem with the White Fang since the majority of the population was not Faunus, but Vale was different. It housed the second largest population of Faunus, beaten by Vacuo, where Faunus lived in peace with their human neighbors. So naturally Vale had become something of a battlefield for the government to clash with the White Fang.

"Hey, who are they?" Henna said, interrupting Aurum's musings.

Two girls were walking towards them. They both looked around team ASHS's age range, maybe a year or two younger. One wore matching white boots and short dress, covered in a pale blue jacket. Her white hair was pulled back into an off-center ponytail, displaying a crooked scar over one of her eyes. The other girl looked younger to Aurum, maybe by two years. She was something of the opposite of the other girls outfit: black blouse, red skirt, and a dark red hooded cloak. They must both be from one of the Huntsmen schools, because both carried weapons. The girl in white had a rapier at her side while the younger girl had what appeared to be some sort of collapsible weapon tucked under her cloak.

"Dunno," Slate said with a wolfish grin. "But I wouldn't mind getting to know them. That one on the left is quite a looker."

"Excuse me?" Henna demanded, jabbing him in the side. Despite the two being in a relationship, Slate was always ready to give his opinion of other women. It was all in joke, since he would never cheat on Henna, mostly because she would be the crap out of him if he ever did.

"Not this again," Silvia complained.

"Hello there," Aurum said as the two came to a stop in front of them. "Can we help you?"

"Hello," the girl in white said with a small curtsey. The other girl tried to imitate her, but lost her balance.

"My name is Weiss Schnee, Huntress in training at Beacon Academy. This is Ruby Rose, also a student at Beacon" she said, casting the other girl a distasteful glance. "My companion and I wished to welcome you to Vale."

"I'm Aurum and this is Silvia, Slate, and Henna," Aurum said, gesturing at each of his teammates in turn. "We're from the Haven Academy in Mistral."

"You're from Haven?" the girl called Ruby asked excitedly. Her silver eyes glinted as she broke into a wide smile. "Wow, that's so cool! What is it like in Mistral?"

"Kind of similar to here, but not as nice," Aurum admitted. He turned to the other girl, Weiss. Was she really a Schnee? "Did you say your last name was Schnee?"

"Yes," Weiss said with a pained smile, like her heritage was uncomfortable for her to think about. Then again, the Schnee's were kind of far from a "good" family. "I'm the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

"So are you two part of a welcoming committee?" Henna asked forcefully. After Slate's comment, she obviously saw Weiss as an enemy, even if she was practically royalty. The Schnee Dust Company was the largest supplier of Dust in the world with their only competition being the White Fang, who were overly fond of stealing the SDC's dust supplies. The SDC used Faunus as their main force of labor, forcing them to work in very dangerous conditions for little pay. This made them a very big enemy of the White Fang's.

"Not officially," Weiss waved her hand like that didn't matter. "But I just thought it'd be nice to greet the out-of-kingdom students."

"Meaning you want to study us before the tournament," Silvia said.

"Uh, no. Of course not," Ruby said. Team ASHS exchanged knowing looks.

"We simply wanted to help project a friendly image of the students from Beacon Academy," Weiss insisted with a blush.

"What she said."

"Don't worry about it," Silvia continued, ignoring their protests. "We'll be scoping out the competition as well."

"So what team are you on?" Weiss asked, changing the subject.

"Team ASHS. We're a second year team," Aurum said. If they wanted to know more about the competition, might as well tell them how much experience they have. Aurum was not usually a judgmental person (that was Slate's job), but these two didn't look like much. They probably had very little experience fighting, although Weiss, being an heiress to her family company, could probably hold her own: the SDC had been battling the White Fang for years. But honestly, Weiss and Ruby were nothing to worry about. "What about you two?"

"We're on team RWBY," Ruby said proudly. "I'm the team leader."

"Maybe you've heard of us?" Weiss smirked, flipping her ponytail aside. "Ruby and another of our teammates broke up a dust robbery down at the docks a few nights ago."

"Really?" Aurum asked, taken aback. She couldn't be serious.

"Yes, but you will probably see it in the newspapers," Weiss said offhandedly. "It was kind of a big thing, taking on the White Fang."

Silence descended on their group as Team ASHS stared at the two huntresses-to-be. Weiss really knew how to play her cards.

"There you two are," called a voice.

Two more girls walked up to them. Like Weiss and Ruby, these two also seemed like opposites of each other. One was a riot of different clothes: stockings, a black vest with coattails over a white undershirt, white shorts, and a black bow atop her dark hair. Strapped to her back was some sort of pistol sword sheathed in a sharpened case.

But it was the second girl, the one who had spoken, who drew Aurum's attention. Long, messy blonde hair stood in contrast to her companion's. Zippered up boots, shorts, tan vest with puffy sleeves and an orange infinity scarf, this girl was armed with twin yellow gauntlets. But it wasn't her looks that caught Aurums eyes, even if she was very beautiful.

No, growing up on the streets, Aurum had learned to read people's body language. It was a skill that he was quite good at, and one that had saved him from plenty of "delicate" situations.

This girl practically radiated confidence. Aurum could tell she knew her abilities, strengths, and weakness and was quite ready to push them to their limits. Even without seeing her in battle, Aurum could tell he did not want to face off against her without his team behind him, which was kind of hot.

"Oh, hello," the blonde girl said with a grin. "Visiting students?"

"Uh, yeah," Aurum said. He mentally slapped himself for not saying something cooler. Then he mentally slapped himself again because why did it matter if he sounded cool to this girl?

"That's cool." She turned to Weiss and Ruby, like that was enough said. "Hey, I thought we were going to meet up with Team JNPR?"

Ruby slapped her forehead. "Oh, that's right! I forgot all about that. When were we supposed to meet them?"

"In two minutes," the dark haired girl muttered.

"What?! Come on guys, let's go!"

"It was a pleasure meeting you all," Weiss said with a wave as she ran after Ruby, who was heading towards Beacon.

"Yeah, maybe we'll see ya around," blondie said, making to go. "What were your names?"

"I'm Aurum, and this is Henna, Slate, and Silvia," Aurum stammered, gesturing at each of his companions as he said their names.

"I'm Yang."

"Blake," the other girl said with a small nod.

"We gotta get going. Catch you later," Yang said, chasing after her teammates. Blake sighed before taking off after them.

Team ASHS stood quiet for about thirty seconds.

"That is literally the weirdest team I've ever met," Slate said, breaking the silence. "And that's saying something because I've spent time with Team ABRN."

"It will be interesting to see how they perform in the tournament," Henna said.

"It will be interesting to see how they perform in general," Slate corrected her.

Silvia nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything about team RWBY as she stared at her team leader.

"Aurum, you okay?" she asked suspiciously. She must have noticed how nervous he had been around Yang.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Aurum said, still looking at the corner Team RWBY had disappeared around.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Want to go again?" Silvia asked, helping Aurum to his feet. For someone who looked like an angel, Silvia sure was a devil. She wore her usual white fleece vest and black boots, silvery blonde hair pulled back, drawing out her silvery eyes. Every time he saw her like this, Aurum couldn't believe she was single. He knew why she was, but he was sure eventually a guy would come along and tell her Aurum was not worth waiting for.

"Might as well," Aurum winced as he shook feeling back into his arms. His three layers of a shirt, hoodie and leather jacket did little to protect his body. Maybe tomorrow morning he would have more bruises than last time he spared the twins? "We've got nothing else to do since we don't have any classes this afternoon."

"You know, we might actually stand a chance against these two if you used your Semblance," Henna said, slapping aside Slate's attempt to help her up. How those two were able to stay together, Aurum would never know.

"Not for training," Aurum said, twirling his twin hatchets to loosen up his muscles. "You might be okay showing everyone yours, but I'm saving mine for the tournament."

Slate snorted. "Like no one from Mistral will not tell."

Every person in Remnant has an Aura, a manifestation of their very soul. Huntsman and Huntresses trained their Aura to use it in combat to defend themselves, attack enemies, and to heal any minor injuries. With enough training, Huntsmen and Huntress could discover their Semblance, a projection of their Aura in a more tangible form. Everyone's Semblance was different because they reflected an aspect of the user. Some Semblances were rather simple and not usually applicable to combat, but Aurum's was different. As his teacher's at Haven had told him, "with proper training and concentration, your Semblance could make you one of the greatest Huntsmen of our times."

"Not everyone has seen Aurum's Semblance," Silvia said, reloading her two FN-Five-Seven pistols. "If anyone from Haven wants to see Mistral win, they won't tell anyone."

"Alright fine, I'll get ready for another beating," Henna muttered, checking her long daggers. Only she and Aurum knew what their Semblances were. Silvia and Slate were still in the process of discovering theirs. Henna had spent the past ten minutes using hers, which blurred her movements, leaving brief after images of herself. Henna had tried to throw off her attackers with it, feinting attacks that looked convincingly real, but Silvia and Slate still managed to see through her illusions.

Team ASHS had been sparring two-on-two for the past hour in preparation for the tournament. Even though the Vytal Festival Tournament was not for a few more weeks, every student Huntsmen team had begun practicing for it and Team ASHS was no exception. Since the tournament was biannual, this was the first year they would be able to compete, and the four of them were determined to do their school proud.

Aurum had found a secluded training ring that wasn't booked for classes, so there was no one to watch Team ASHS practice. The twins were naturally a team, not because they were related but because they worked so well together. Despite coming from a wealthy family back in Mistral, the two had grown up practicing fighting alongside each other since they could walk. When they discovered their kid's dreams were to become Huntsmen, their parents had found teachers to train them to prepare them for Haven Academy. After years of practice, they were a formidable duo. They completely trusted each other and could effortlessly read each other's strikes and vulnerabilities.

The last hour could be summed up in the last three minutes: Aurum and Henna rolling, jumping, and dashing in to deal a blow before falling back. The twins did their tried and true tactic of Slate covering defense with his long battle axe while Silvia stood behind him firing her pistols, forcing Aurum and Henna to always stay in motion. It was a testament to Aurum and Henna's skill to stay up for so long, but eventually they would miscalculate or misread each other, and then the twins would finish the fight.

Sometimes Aurum was jealous of how easily they worked together. Granted, it had taken them years to get to where they are, but it was almost not fair how well they worked together. The twins were excellent fighters without each other, but they were so much better together that Aurum always paired them up. Aurum was not sure what he would do for the tournament: pair them up and have him and Henna fight solo or try to get the entire team to work as one. Because if the twins were together, he and Henna would just get in their way.

He knew for a fact Henna was jealous of how was Slate always working with his sister, more from a relationship standpoint. There were two women who mattered to Slate: Silvia and Henna. Sometimes it wasn't clear who he cared about more, and his ability to work so well with his sister in combat was something Henna envied. Aurum would understand that: up until recently, he had wanted to work that well with Silvia.

"Alright you two, this is it," Aurum said, firmly anchoring his feet like his old mentor Gelwaz had shown him. Moving his hatchets in slow movements like a boxer moves his fist, Aurum glanced at Henna. There was a fire in her eyes that he knew to fear; she hated, absolutely hated, to be beaten.

"Ready to lose again?" Slate grinned. Henna growled at her boyfriend.

Silvia slid fresh clips into her pistols.

"Begin!" Aurum shouted, lunging to the left.

Henna had done the same thing to the right, but just as her feet hit the ground she redirected her momentum at the twins: she was not going to wait like last time.

Soaring forward, she flipped a dagger at Slate, who easily deflected it. Just as she came into range of his axe, Henna yanked on the dark cord attached to the hilt of her discarded dagger, which had buried itself ten feet away in the ring's floor. Flying away, she slide into a roll, collected her dagger, and kept moving. What was her plan?

Aurum had Silvia's full undivided attention, something he was not thrilled about. Bullets whizzed by him, missing him only because he kept himself constantly in motion, feinting left and right, jumping and rolling. More often than not he would have to block shots with his hatchets. But he was making progress. With every move he made, he got closer to the twins. Whenever he got too close, Slate would force him away with his long battle axe, but at least he was almost in striking rang. If only Henna would distract them for even a second.

As if reading his mind, Henna tried another attack, this time with her Semblance. The pen ink flowers on her arms glowed red as she dashed in, a blur of herself trailing behind. Leaping over the twins, she threw two of her daggers straight down at them, pulling on their ropes to come crashing into their midst. Whipping out her other two daggers, Henna went to work slashing away at them, forcing Silvia to flip her pistols around to block Henna's blows.

Aurum grinned and charged into the mess. Leaping high, he flipped a switch on both of his hatchets, elongating the handles until they were each a meter long; the hatchets had become single bladed battle axes.

Hooking Slate's own axe, Aurum flipped down to the ground. Slate kept his grip and merely countered Aurum's blows with a fierce swipe from his axe. Aurum kept the pressure on him, hoping Henna was getting Silvia busy. If they could separate the twins, they would stand a chance.

His hopes were dashed when he heard Henna grunt in pain. In the corner of his eye he saw Henna go flying. He should pull back, but he had Slate on the defensive. Now wasn't the time to retreat, but to attack.

Two legs wrapped around his neck from behind, twisting and throwing him to the hard ground. Blinking spots from his eyes, Aurum stared in Silvia's smiling face as Slate steadied himself. He got into a golfer position and lined up the flat edge of his axe with Aurum's side. Aurum knew what was coming, but he couldn't move: his head was ringing to much from being slammed into the floor.

SMACK.

Aurum skidded across the floor, lost hold of his hatchets, and tumbled out of the ring.

Gasping and holding his aching side, Aurum heard Henna flop out of the ring a few seconds later. She must've tried to get back into the fight after Silvia sent her flying, but couldn't match the twins without Aurum. Then again, she couldn't fight them with Aurum. Aurum tried to make a mental note in his ringing head: the twins would fight together in the tournament. Let their opponents feel their wrath.

"Any other challengers?" Slate asked, raising his arms like he was some sort of religious leader.

"Best seven out of thirteen?" Silvia suggested, smiling.

"I need some air," Aurum grunted, holding his fist to his mouth. Taking a direct hit to the side when his Aura was already low really did a number to his stomach.

The twins laughed and high fived as he stumbled from the room. Henna just lay on the floor, not even acknowledging that they had lost yet again.

Leaning against the hallway's wall, Aurum cracked open a window and inhaled the fresh air. Massaging his side, he thought back over the fight. His mentor, Gelwaz, had taught him to always learn from your mistake.

" _Only by learning from them can we hope not to repeat them,_ " his mentor was found of repeating whenever he wasn't stoned. Gelwaz was found of brandishing his stump of an arm to prove the point.

Aurum had found Gelwaz on the streets four years ago, quite literally. He had found the old Huntsman collapsed in the gutter, unconscious and smelling very strongly of pot. Aurum had moved him to someplace more private. Aurum knew the cripple would probably be robbed or beaten up for fun, so he had stayed to watch over him. When Gelwaz eventually awoke, Aurum learned the old guy didn't need protection.

Maybe it was being smashed into the pavement, but Aurum learned Gelwaz was way more than he appeared to be. He convinced Gelwaz to tell him his story, which was actually the very short story of "I used to fight monsters, and then they ate my arm. Who the frick are you?"

Like the rest of the world, Aurum had grown up hearing stories of Huntsmen. To regular people, Huntsman and Huntresses were almost legendary, the heroes who dedicated their lives to battling the Grimm. Aurum had heard the stories from his mother and retold them to his brother Nave and twin little sisters every night.

After a lot more convincing, he got Gelwaz to agree to train him to be one.

Gelwaz became more than a teacher to him, taking the place of a father when Aurum's had left his mother. Despite the cursing, drinking, and overall crankiness of the man, Aurum had loved him. He had helped take care of Gelwaz, basically becoming part caretaker and part bodyguard to the old man. He made sure Gelwaz didn't hurt himself in one of his drunken rages or when he was high on drugs, made sure he always had food even it was some of Aurum's, and fought off any of the thugs who were fond of disrespecting the old man. Gelwaz had been at every important moment in Aurum's life from then on, which weren't many. He always remembered Aurum's birthday, was there when Aurum graduated from high school, and always made a point of visiting Aurum's family on the date that Aurum's dad had walked out on them. Aurum's mother had at first wanted nothing to do with the retired Huntsman, but had come around. She treated Gelwaz like a king whenever he visited: getting him enough to eat, giving him the best seat, and always sending him home with something.

The last time Aurum had seen the old guy was when he had told Gelwaz he had been accepted into Haven. Gelwaz had been speechless and simply pulled him into a tight hug. Eventually he managed to croak out, "Well done kid. You did it. Well done." He died that night.

Aurum pushed aside the memories and instead thought about Gelwaz's teachings. Aurum relived the fight in his mind. Taking note of the twins moves for future fights, he mainly examined his own mistakes, questioning what had seemed like had been the right decision in the moment. Maybe he should've kept his hatchets in their hatchet form. Perhaps he should've regrouped with Henna, instead of pressing what he had thought was the advantage.

He was so involved in figuring out what he had done wrong that he was oblivious to the world, missing the first greeting.

"Hey! Hey, Aurum! You okay man?"

Shaken from his thoughts, Aurum turned to find an unexpected pair: Neptune Vasilias and Yang Xiao Long (Aurum had found out what her last name was, which was not creepy at all in Aurum's mind). Yang wasn't wearing her usual outfit (also not creepy that Aurum knew what she usually wore), but was instead wearing a top over a black shirt, a very short skirt, and stockings and boots. Judging from the fact that she had her gauntlets and Neptune had his gun, they were both off to do something.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine." Aurum forced a grin, immediately feeling like it looked stupid. Then again, anything he did next to Neptune with his perfect smile, tan skin, and light-blue hair was bound to look stupid. Every girl at Haven loved him, something Aurum and Slate envied. Not that that was something that Aurum usually held against Neptune: the guy just had that natural charm the ladies loved.

If he and Yang were hanging together, that could only mean she liked him. Aurum's appreciation for Neptune plummeted.

"Where's everyone else?" Yang asked.

"In there." Aurum pointed to the open door. "Just had a sparring session."

"Guess it didn't go so well for you then," Neptune said with a grin.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Aurum demanded.

"Uh, that you don't look so good." Neptune seemed taken aback at Aurum's hostility. They had always been on good terms prior to today. "Seriously, are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine," Aurum snapped.

"What's with you?" Yang crossed her arms, gauntlets outward. Aurum had only briefly spoken to her in the halls since meeting her a week ago, but she had never let on that she was interested in Neptune then.

"How many times do I have to say I'm fine?"

"Well, you're obviously not."

"Where are you two off to?"

"Yang's taking me into the city on her bike." Neptune said. Aurum could read into that obvious statement: they were off on a date. He had a sudden urge to punch out every one of his perfect white teeth.

"I have a friend I want to go talk to," Yang said. What did she mean she had a friend she wanted to talk to? What kind of date was that? Was this friend some sort of third wheel?

"That's it?" Aurum asked.

"Uh, yeah," Yang replied. "Is there anything else you want to know about what were doing?"

Realizing he was looking like a total jerk in front of Yang (and also Neptune), Aurum decided to rein himself in. "No. Look, I'm sorry. Neptune, you're right: the sparring session didn't go so well. Guess I am getting stressed out."

"Dude, its fine," Neptune said. "I'd be a little stressed if I had to face the twins too."

"What's so good about the twins?" Yang asked.

Neptune smiled knowingly. "Wait for the tournament and you'll see."

"Alright keep you secrets." Yang glanced at the clock on the wall. "We should probably get going. I hope your sparring goes better."

"Yeah, if you ever want to practice just let me know," Neptune offered.

"Thanks. Stay out of trouble you two," Aurum said, watching them walk away.

Aurum leaned against wall and slid to the ground once they were out of sight. If Yang was going places with Neptune, Aurum did not stand a chance. Once again, Neptune Vasilias won another woman's heart. Aurum sighed, running his fingers through his golden hair.

"Well that was something," Henna said, sitting down next to him. She held out his hatchets, both of which were thankfully back in their regular form.

"Saw all that?" Aurum slid his weapons into his belt.

"Course I did," Henna said. "You should be glad the twins didn't."

"Why is that?"

"Because everyone expects you to get together with Silvia. I think she expects it too."

Aurum sighed. A week ago, he had been planning on asking Silvia out on a date. Then he had met Yang and thoughts of asking Silvia out had been flung from his mind. "Life was a lot less complicated before this."

"Was it?" Henna grinned. "Look, Slate wants you to date his sister. Silvia likes you. It's pretty simple. A lot of guys would kill for a brother to be okay with them dating their sister."

"Ever since you and Slate started dating, I've thought about it," Aurum admitted. "But now? I don't know."

"Do you like her?"

"I don't know. Always thought of her as someone who was off-limits, you know? But if Slate is okay with it…"

"I wasn't talking about Silvia."

Aurum turned his head to look at Henna and was shocked at what he saw. Henna usually wasn't a caring person, but she was looking at him like one would at a hurt puppy.

"Does it matter?" Aurum asked. "If Yang likes Neptune, then that's it."

Henna opened her mouth to say something, but the twins came out of the training room.

"What's going on?" Silvia took one look at Henna and Aurum sitting together and knew something wasn't right. "Are we done training for today?"

Aurum took Silvia's outstretched hand and pulled himself up. Avoiding her eyes, he said, "Yeah, we're done training for today."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

A few days later, Aurum and his team met with the other second year students in the amphitheater. Today they were to receive their missions and follow real Huntsmen and Huntresses out in the field. The fourth year teams were present as well: the first and third year students would be receiving their own missions the next Monday after the big inter school dance.

To say they were excited was an understatement. Last year had been an in-between year without a Vytal festival, so the students of Haven academy had stayed in Mistral. Haven Academy on the years without the Vytal Festival still had their students go out on Huntsmen mission within Mistral. It was a way for the teachers to test the students, hear from the Huntsman or Huntress they shadowed on the missions on how well their students performed in the field.

Team ASHS had gotten to shadow a Huntress who was protecting a small swamp village. The team didn't expect much excitement from the village, so they settled down for what they thought would be an uneventful few days.

On the third night of protecting the village, a pack of Beowolves had broken through the village boundaries. With their Huntresses' directions, Team ASHS fought off the Grimm without any harm to the villagers. They then had to hunt down any surviving Beowolves and finished them off before they attacked the village again. The mission had gone longer than expected, but no one complained. Team ASHS got to come back to Haven with a great story to tell their friends and teachers.

Despite seeing the horrors of what Grimm were capable of, they were eager to get back out into what Henna called "the real world." A world where it was just them standing between the Grimm and their human victims. A world where they were not students, but heroes. They had gotten a taste of what being a Huntsmen were like, and had gotten addicted to it.

Aurum glanced around the courtyard at the other students. Only the Atlas and Mistral students had come in their school uniforms. The Vacuo kids had no uniforms, so they had just worn whatever they wanted. The kids from Vale were dressed for the job, all of them ready to start their missions.

Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon, took the stage in the amphitheater's center. The student's conversations petered out at the sight of the great Huntsman. Surveying the students gather before him, he smiled and tapped his cane against the microphone's base, a gesture not entirely necessary because everyone in the courtyard had gone silent when he had mounted the stage.

"Here we are once again, all of the four kingdoms of Remnant gathered together: Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale," Ozpin said, staring at each school in turn. "On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war that left deep scars from the ignorance and greed of those who fought in it. These scars still last to this today, still present within our society. It is only by working together, to uphold the peace our ancestors so desperately labored for, that we will ever be able to heal Remnant of its past."

"So, while the rest of the world prepares to celebrate peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

Aurum joined in the solemn applause that followed Ozpin's speech. His mentor, Gelwaz, had told him about Professor Ozpin. Gelwaz had held the headmaster in the highest respect, despite only encountering him twice in his life; once when he had been finishing his training and again when Ozpin had visited Mistral. Not much was known about Ozpin's past, but Gelwaz said that he had been a great Huntsman and still was, tirelessly training the students of Vale to become the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses.

The teams of students had begun to drift towards the light terminals set up around the edges of the amphitheater. Team ASHS got in line for the nearest terminal.

"What sorts of missions are available?" Silvia asked her brother, the tallest of the group.

"A lot." Slate peered over the heads of everyone around them. "Looks like the top ones are "Search and Destroy," "Perimeter Defense," and "Escort" types of missions."

"'Search and Destroy' sounds fun," Henna grinned evilly.

"I dunno. 'Escort' would be a good way to interact with people and see Vale," Silvia said.

"Let's wait and see what's left for us," Aurum said. There were only two teams ahead of them, but chances were they would take the better missions.

Aurum was right. When it was finally team ASHS's turn, both the 'Search and Destroy' and 'Escort' missions had been replaced by 'Village Security' and 'Search and Locate.'

"Well, this sucks," Henna said, glaring daggers at the backs of the team who'd left with the 'Search and Destroy' job. "Guess we'll have to pick a different one."

"'Search and Locate' sounds important," Aurum read through the description. "There is a missing Faunus couple in District 3. The Mission Start is ASAP."

"I'm fine with it," Slate said.

"Looks good," Silvia agreed.

Henna just grunted.

Aurum selected it and entered in their team name. "Alright guys, go change and get your stuff. We'll meet up on the landing pad."

The team all grabbed their bags from the pile by the door and split. Aurum and Slate headed for the nearest men's room while the girls disappeared into the crowd.

They weren't the only ones who were changing in the bathroom. The men's room was full of Mistral and Atlas students waiting to change out of their uniforms. A guy in a fedora and dark glasses glanced up at them as they entered.

"Get in line fellas," he said, twirling a trumpet.

The lines for the stalls progressed swiftly: everyone was in a hurry to start their missions. The guy with the trumpet left with a group of guys carrying Atlas uniforms just a few minutes after Aurum and Slate had entered. A few of the more impatient people just changed out in the open, which Aurum considered doing until a stall opened up.

After latching the door shut, Aurum quickly got into his jeans, hoodie and leather vest. Tucking his folded uniform into his bag and sliding his hatchets into his belt, he let the next person in line take his stall.

Slate wasn't out yet but Aurum wasn't going to wait for him. Slate knew where the landing pad was and honestly, Aurum didn't always need to be with his team. The four of them were always together, making it a little hard to meet students from the other schools. Not that Aurum regretted being with his team all the time, but he did want to get to know new people. Well, it had been one person in particular until he had seen her with Neptune.

Heading across the amphitheater, Aurum stepped out into the bright outdoors. A soft western wind was blowing, lazily pushing small patches of clouds across the blue sky. The excited chatter of students buzzed through the air as teams prepared for their missions. Students from the first and fourth years had come to see their friends off, contributing to the crowd.

Aurum headed off towards the landing pad, where Bullhead airships were waiting to take teams across Vale. Some of the VTOL ships belonged to Beacon, but because of the large number of students, the government of Vale had brought in more Bullheads. A ship took off every few minutes, taking the student teams past the Atlas aerial defense to their missions.

The Atlas fleet had arrived with their students shortly after the students of Haven had come to Vale. Its presence had naturally confused everyone in Vale. Sure, the Huntsman academy and the Atlas military were the same thing, but why bring the ships? Was Vale under threat? Why did they need these large airships floating over them like silent sentinels? Nobody was complaining; extra protection against the Grimm was always welcome. But a thought had entered everyone's mind. A thought that Aurum himself agreed with.

Something big was about to happen.

Aurum had noticed signs that whatever was coming was on its way. The Vale news network had reported an increase in White Fang activity. The owner of a bookstore in the commercial district had gone missing, presumed dead. Now a Faunus couple was missing as well. And there had been a disturbance on the highway two nights ago. Eye witnesses reported seeing a massive robot flipping cars before falling off, pursued by a small pack of teenagers.

The news network hadn't reported the highway incident and it was clear that the government was trying to keep the matter hushed up, but rumors travelled fast. Aurum had overheard two Vacuo kids talking about it in the cafeteria just yesterday morning. Apparently, the giant robot had been chasing two Faunus before more people had shown up to fight it. Aurum had a sneaking suspicion who they were.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Aurum spotted two of the people he suspected. Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose were walking back towards the amphitheater, probably for a combat class now that the second and fourth years were emptying out of it.

Aurum had not spoken with Yang or Neptune since seeing them two days ago. He had spotted Team RWBY yesterday from across the cafeteria. Everyone looked a little tired, none more so than the black haired one called Blake. She didn't seem to let that bother her though, because she was the first to finish eating and rush off, drawing worried glances from her teammates.

Aurum avoided making eye contact with the sisters as they drew closer. He didn't feel like talking to them if Neptune and Yang were a couple now. Not that Aurum was bitter or anything, but what was the point in trying to be friendly, knowing that Neptune had beaten him once again. Then again, after hearing the rumors of the highway incident, maybe there was more to the story. Either way, Aurum did not want to talk with the sisters.

Luck was not on his side though, because they saw him.

"Hi Aurum!" Ruby called as they grew closer.

"Hey Ruby. Yang." Aurum forced a smile. "What are you two up to?"

"We've got a free period, so we'd thought we would come see everyone off," Yang said with a grin.

"Yeah. Too bad we can't come with." Ruby pouted. "Gotta wait a stupid week."

"You guys will at least be here for the dance for sure. It's questionable if we'll make it," Aurum pointed out, but immediately regretted it. Why bring up the dance? Yang was probably going with Neptune, so why even talk about it?

Aurum was planning on attending if they were back from their mission in time. He had been thinking about asking Yang to be his date, but since seeing her with Neptune, the idea had kind of deflated in his mind. And since he was not asking Yang, he would have to ask Silvia or else he would probably be going alone. Not that Silvia was a bad choice (he had been attracted to her prior to meeting Yang), but Aurum had really seen himself going with Yang. He had tried to stop thinking about the dance, but the harder he tried, the more he thought about it.

"Yeah, the dance is going to be awesome," Yang said, taking no notice of the internal panic that Aurum was facing. "Are you planning on going?"

"If I can find a date." Stupid, why say that? Now he sounded like a loser. "And if our mission is finished in time. It's a search and rescue job, so who knows when we'll complete it."

"Well, try to make it to the dance," Yang said. "Weiss and I may have to plan it if team CFVY isn't done with their mission either. If that's the case, it'll be a dance to remember."

He might as well ask the question that had caused him so much torment. At least then he would get some closure if Yang and Neptune were a couple or not. Aurum gathered what nerve he had, took a quick breath, and asked, "So, do you two have any plans for the dance?"

"Like, plans for planning the dance?" Ruby scratched her head. "Or do we have dates in mind for the dance? Or are we planning on going to the dance?"

"Ruby, I just told him I might be helping plan the whole thing. Kind of implies that I'll be there."

"Or will you?" Ruby said mysteriously. "You only implied that you'll be there."

Yang rolled her eyes. "In answer to your question-"

"Which one?"

"Ruby, shut up. Weiss and I do have plans for the dance, I don't have a date in mind yet, and yes I'll be there." She turned to Ruby. "Happy?"

"Just making sure we all understand each other," Ruby said innocently. Aurum was learning that Ruby tended to just speak her mind. Ruby really didn't care about what everyone thought of her. She wasn't afraid to appear childish at all.

"So, you don't have a date yet?" Aurum said, wanting clarification.

"Not really. Why?"

"I'm just surprised, that's all." Aurum immediately felt like he'd over spoken. Why was it so hard to speak to two first year girls? He knew the answer to that question, but it was still worth asking.

Luckily Ruby came to his rescue. "If you're surprised by that, it'll shock you to hear no one's asked me yet."

Aurum and Yang laughed, trying to be nice. There was no way to laugh at that and not sound mean. Ruby was after all two years younger than everyone in her year, so it wasn't surprising to hear no one had asked her: no guy wanted to be called a pedophile by his friends, even if it was just said jokingly. Ruby was just too young for a guy to be comfortable asking.

"Well, I've got to get going," Aurum pulled out his Scroll to check the time. "The rest of the team is probably waiting for me."

"Well, good luck on your mission," Yang said. Her eyes lit up as if a bright idea had just come to her. Yang pulled her own Scroll from her pocket and enlarged the screen. "Hey, why don't you give us your Scroll ID? It'd be cool to get updates on your mission."

"Sure." Aurum exchanged Scrolls with Yang. Opening her contacts, he entered in his contact information before taking his own back.

"I'll send you Ruby's later," Yang said. "Have fun out there."

"I bet we will. If the mission goes long, I may see you two out there next week."

"Ha. Just try to make it to the dance, kay?"

"I'll try but no guarantees. Have fun at class."

The three parted ways. Aurum felt much better about the upcoming mission. Or maybe he just felt better in general. Yang wasn't going with Neptune to the dance, so they could not be together. That in and of itself made Aurum feel amazing. And as a bonus he had gotten her Scroll ID number, and she had been the one who had asked for his. Sure, Yang wanted updates on his mission but maybe it was a sign that she liked him. Or maybe Aurum was just reading too much into it, but honestly he didn't care. Yang had come and seen him off and nothing short of a bomb dropping would whip the smile from his face.

When he finally got to the landing platform, Aurum ignored his teammate's questions on what took him so long and why he was just so darn cheerful. He avoided looking at Henna, who was smirking knowingly. Silvia kept giving him a scrutinizing stare, but didn't ask anything. Slate was oblivious as always to anything that wasn't shoved in his face.

As the Bullhead took off, Aurum felt his Scroll vibrate.

Gripping the straps adorning the cabin's ceiling, Aurum fished his Scroll out of his pocket with his free hand.

Yang had messaged him in a group chat. Below a bunch of numbers that Aurum assumed was Ruby's ID, Yang had written: Good luck out there. Stay safe, okay?

Those seven words somehow managed to stretch Aurum's smile even more.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Here we are." Loden said, unlocking the door. Aurum followed the Huntsman into the small apartment, previously belonging to Redmond and Iris Dovetails. The young Faunus couple had gone missing two days ago and Team ASHS's mission was to help find either the Dovetails or what happened to them.

To say the apartment was small was an understatement. It consisted of only two rooms, both of which seemed to serve dual purposes. The first room was a modified kitchen/office. A table for two occupied the space, its surface adorned with filled boxes. Two narrow spaces had been carved out for the Dovetails to eat at. Packed into the corner were an oven, sink, and a microwave balanced atop a shelf. Packets of food lined what little wall space there was.

Aurum looked into the next room. A single unmade bed flanked by two dressers resided there. The two dressers were full to the brim, multiple drawers kept open because they refused to be shut. Aurum opened what he had mistaken at first to be closet to find it was not a closet but was instead a cramped bathroom.

"What do you think happened to them?" he asked Loden.

"The same thing that is causing all of our problems." Loden weaved his way around the table of boxes. Opening one, he began to sift through its contents. "White Fang."

"But they were Faunus. The White Fang doesn't target Faunus."

"They're hitting a lot of people who shouldn't be targeted," Loden muttered darkly.

Team ASHS had been greeted by Loden and his Huntress partner Ivory (Ivy as she insisted on being called) upon landing in Residential District of Vale. The two were the last members of Huntsmen Team LPIS, having lost one team member to the Grimm and the other they refused to talk about. The two made quite an odd pair; Loden in his armored vest, green watch cap and assault rifle, and Ivy in her green cloak, boots, and dual swords.

Upon landing, Team ASHS had been split up for jobs. Currently, Slate and Silvia were at the police station reviewing records, trying to see if the Dovetails had had any prior connection with the White Fang. Henna had gone with Ivy to visit Redmond Dovetail's employer, a factory owner in the  
Industrial District. Loden had brought Aurum to the apartment to see if they could find any new leads there.

Loden had filled Aurum in on the known details of the Dovetail's disappearance. It was Redmond's employer who had reported it to the police. The factory owner had been trying to contact Mr. Dovetail because he had failed to report for any of his shifts, but neither of the Dovetails returned his messages. After multiple tries, the factory owner was ready to fire Redmond but knew the Faunus community would lash out against him for it, or worse the White Fang would pay him a visit. Knowing it would look better to at least try and meet with Mr. Dovetail before firing him, he sent an employee by the apartment to speak with them in person. When the employee reported that no one was home and that none of the neighbors had seen the Dovetails for the past week, the employer got the police involved. So far no one had been able to locate the Dovetails and they had found no leads.

The police had already inspected the apartment and Loden and Ivy had already made a trip out to look at it themselves. Everyone agreed that there had been no signs of a struggle in the apartment, something Aurum could confirm looking at the apartment. The Dovetails had packed all of their possessions into the tiny apartment, precariously stacking boxes and breaking every fire code; if there had been a fight, all of the boxes would have been knocked over and their contents strewn all over the two rooms.

"All books," Loden said as he looked into another box. He opened the cover of a book and read the inside label. ""Tukson's Book Trade.""

"Didn't the owner of that place go missing as well?" Aurum asked. He remembered seeing it in the paper.

"That's the official story. The police don't want people to start to panic when everyone is worrying about why the Atlas fleet is here, so they haven't told the public that Tukson was found dead in his store." Loden picked up a few more books and began to check their covers as well.

"You think the White Fang killed him?"

"Most likely. We think he was a member but got cold feet and tried to leave." Loden set down the book he just checked and picked up another. "And it looks like the Dovetails were loyal customers of his."

"So if he was in the White Fang, they were probably were as well."

"That's what we're assuming. Both the Dovetails and Tukson were Faunus, so it is very likely they were involved to some extent with the White Fang. But it's all guess work until we get some conclusive evidence."

Aurum picked a box and began to go through it. He found quite a few books from Tukson's Book Trade along with a travel bag of toiletries, empty plastic containers, plastic water bottles, and canned food. Placing the box on the floor, Aurum pulled another one towards him.

This box contained photo albums. Aurum opened one and began to flip through it. The Dovetails smiled up at him, sometime by themselves or with friends. They did not seem to have any regular human friends, only Faunus. Redmond Dovetail must have been more of the photographer of the two, because the majority of the photos were of his smiling wife, Iris Dovetail. Aurum found some of their wedding, which from the date in the book was just two weeks ago. Iris Dovetail looked like she had been expecting a child prior to their marriage, but must have had a miscarriage because there were no photos of them with children.

Moving to another album, Aurum was greeted by an older photo of Redmond with his arm around Tukson in front of the book store. Both were grinning ear to ear.

"They must have been good friends," Aurum said, handing the photo to Loden.

Loden glanced at the photo and slide it into his pocket. "Do you have any of their friends or family, anyone who might know about what happened to them?"

"This whole album is full of them with other Faunus." Aurum slide the first album to Loden. Loden flipped through it quickly, a smile slowly stretching his trimmed beard as he progressed through the album.

"If we can find any of these people," he said, tapping a photo of the wedding reception, "one of them could tell us if the Dovetails were White Fang. Might even be able to catch some of those terrorists while we're at it."

Loden put the album separate from the rest of the boxes. "Let's see what else we can find before we chase this lead. A diary or journal would be pure gold."

They did not find a diary, journal, calendar, or any record of the Dovetail's daily life. Loden pulled out all of the photos of the Dovetail's friends from the album and tucked them into his pocket. He locked up the apartment behind him as they left the building, nodding to the police officer stationed outside the apartment.

"So what's our next move?" Aurum asked as they set off down the street. Neither Loden nor Ivy owned a car, so they had been using public transportation to get around. Loden claimed it was cheaper this way, plus they did not have to keep replacing their old car. As Loden put it, "Grimm don't understand how much insurance costs."

"We give these," Loden patted his pocket with the photos, "to the police. They can handle looking through them. Until they locate these people though, I have a lead on an active member of the White Fang. The two of us are going to pay her a little visit, see if she'll introduce us to any of his friends."

"I thought our job was to find out what happened to the Dovetails?"

"It is, partially. Ivy and I are also supposed to deal with the White Fang."

"And if you know this lady is White Fang, why haven't you arrested her?"

"Ivy and I have been a little too busy to do it. Did you hear about that Atlas mech tearing up the highway the other night?"

"Yeah. I heard some Huntresses took care of it though," Aurum said casually as they turned a corner.

"Junior Huntresses," Loden corrected him. "Even though they took out the robot, we still don't know how the White Fang got their hands on a piece of Atlas weaponry that isn't even in the field yet. General Ironwood has launched an investigation, but Ivy and I have been busy conducting raids on every suspected White Fang hideout we know."

"So why don't the police arrest this lady?"

"Because they don't want to be anywhere near the neighborhood she's in; very strong pro White Fang area. They prefer we do it, and now it looks like the two of us will have to."

"How long have the two of you been working on this job?" Aurum asked.

"Close to two months now," Loden replied, shielding his eyes from the harsh sun as he read a street address. They turned onto yet another street, heading towards the closest bus stop. "After the White Fang's raid on the Dust shipment at the Docks was foiled by those young Huntresses, the police realized they weren't trained enough for these thugs. Professor Ozpin called Ivy and me in to be the police's hunting dogs: they point us in the right direction and we take down the prey."

"Professor Ozpin called you in to help the police?" Aurum knew Ozpin was more than just the headmaster at Beacon, but it was still surprising to hear about how involved he was with Vale's government. Sure, the Huntsmen in Mistral worked with the authorities, but Aurum had never heard of Haven Headmaster ever calling in specific Huntsmen to help the police.

"Yep. Ivy and I are old graduates of Beacon. We try to stay in touch with Professor Ozpin. Oz occasionally contacts us whenever he needs a specific job done."

They took a seat on the bench at the bus stop. Since it was the middle of the day and everyone was still at work, they were the only ones waiting. Loden pulled out his Scroll and typed in a number.

"Hello?" he said after a moment. "Burns, it's me, Loden. Listen, one of the junior Huntsmen and I may have found a lead for you to follow…. Yeah, it deals with the Dovetails, but I think we might get some other stuff out of it."

Loden listened for a moment. "How can I get this to you quickly? I was planning on going to visit someone and can't swing by the station… It's in Acribus Quarter… Okay, we'll drop it off with them. Catch you later."

"There's two officers near where we'll be going," Loden told Aurum. "Detective Burns says we can leave the album with them and they'll bring it to the station."

A bus pulled up. The driver tipped his hat to them as they took their seats; the people found it comforting to see Huntsmen at work. Loden lead the way to the back of the bus, exchanging small smiles with the bus's few occupants.

"Let your friends at the station know where we're going," Loden said. Aurum fished out his Scroll. "Always a good idea to keep everyone informed in case things go south."

Aurum opened up his Scroll and was greeted with a group message notification. It was from Yang and Ruby.

Yang had written:

Just got done with class. How's the mission going?

Aurum quickly sent the rest of Team ASHS a message about where he and Loden were headed before replying.

Ok. We're off to talk with someone from the White Fang.

Aurum put his Scroll down and barely turned to watch the buildings go by when it was buzzing. Ruby had responded first.

Srsly?! Tell us everything they say!

I don't think I'm allowed 2. Police stuff and all. Aurum typed out.

Aww…. Plz?

Do it anyway. Not like the police will know. Yang had rejoined the conversation.

Guys, I really don't think I can.

"That's a long message you're sending," Loden remarked conversationally.

"Oh, I'm contacting some other people now," Aurum said. He glanced at his Scroll to see another message from Yang (Of course you can!). "Is it okay to message someone not related to our job? I won't tell them what we're up to."

Loden thought it over as the bus stopped to pick up more people. "Now it's okay, but later I'll need you to be fully focused. Acribus Quarter can be a nasty place if you're not careful."

"Got it."

Aurum, we kind of really need 2 know about the White Fang.

Why?

TOP SECRET REASONS, THAT'S WHY.

"This is our stop," Loden said, getting up.

Gtg. And I'm not telling U anything until you tell me why U want 2 know. Aurum typed quickly before following Loden off the bus.

"The officers are just a block over," Loden said. He once again led the way, Aurum close behind.

The two police officers were waiting next to their squad car. They both knew Loden from working with him. Loden introduced Aurum and handed over the album. After talking for a bit longer and telling Aurum to be careful ("not that you'll need it kid. You're with Loden), the officers drove off and Loden and Aurum walked the next few blocks to their destination.

Acribus Quarter was by far the sketchiest part of Vale that Aurum had seen yet. The buildings were hemmed in, alleys forming a checkerboard between them. Every building had something wrong with it. Some it was just peeling paint but others had boarded up windows, unnaturally chipped bricks, broken outside lights, or the walls were completely covered in graffiti. A far few had condemned signs on the doors, but Aurum saw one lady walk into one like nothing was wrong. Vale's usual spotless streets also did not apply in this neighborhood. Bits of trash lined the buildings, piling up on the curb, and clogging up the gutters. Judging from the looks of the neighborhood alone, it was no wonder the police had officers shied away from Acribus Quarter; Aurum had just entered the worst part of Vale.

"Stay vigilant," Loden advised as they entered what Aurum assumed was an apartment building. It was hard to tell from the outside due to how similar it was to the rest of the buildings on the street, all worn down and in need of being fully demolished. There was a failed health inspection form taped to the front of the building.

Aurum was shoved aside as a woman with fox ears pushed her way out the door. A ram horned man pushed him back into place as he chased after the woman, yelling profanities. Aurum looked to Loden for an explanation, but the Huntsman was already ascending some stairs, ignoring the spectacle. Aurum quickly followed, shooting a worried glance at the door.

They passed more Faunus on their way up the narrow staircase. Everyone they encountered gave them a wide berth, some avoiding eye contact while others openly glared as they passed. Aurum saw no regular humans in the building.

"Is everyone here a Faunus?" Aurum whispered after they moved past a large wolf-tailed man on the fourth floor. The wolf man lounged against the doorframe to the fourth floor, idly sharpening a knife. He scowled as they passed.

"This entire neighbor is made up of Faunus," Loden said, mounting another flight of stairs. Aurum looked back but the wolf man had slipped away. "These people have experienced the most hatred and persecution, forcing them to live here. Because of their treatment, the majority no longer wants equal rights but instead want more."

"Sounds like they're all White Fang."

"The majority of them are."

"So why don't the police do something?" Aurum asked.

"The main reason is that these people would fight back if the police did try to do something here. But politically, if they cleared out this entire neighborhood, any remaining Faunus would protest and probably join the White Fang, who could claim to be victims of police brutality." Loden stopped on the fifth floor landing. "This is our floor."

Loden slung his assault rifle off his back, fitting a magazine into place.

"Didn't you say we were going to talk to this White Fang person? Not kill them?" Aurum asked as he followed Loden down the narrow hallway.

"They won't want to talk to us, trust me. Might even try to fight us. But we need information so they'll have to."

Loden stopped at a door and knocked. Footsteps sounded as someone approached from the other side, but the door remained shut. Loden knocked again, a little more forcefully this time.

"Go away," a muffled voice said through the door.

"We're Huntsmen," Loden looked into the spyhole. "May we please come in?"

"No, go away," the voice repeated.

"We are here about the Dovetails. Do you know anything about them? Anything about what happened to them?"

The silence that descended was eventually broken by the click of the lock. A gap appeared in the dark doorway, filled by the scared eyes of a young doe eyed woman. Her eyes shifted from Loden's rifle to Aurum's hatchets, then back to Loden's rifle.

"Come in," she said, peeping into the hallway quickly before retreating into the dark apartment.

Aurum went in first, pushing open the door with one hand while keeping the other near his hatchets. The apartment was shrouded in darkness, only faint shadows from the tightly closed curtains marking where any of the furniture was.

The door clicked shut behind Loden.

"This way." The woman's whispered from the next room. Aurum felt his way over, almost knocking over a box. What was with all Faunus keeping boxes of stuff in their houses?

A lamp flickered to life, illuminating the room from its perch on a coffee table. The doe-eyed women sat down on a squashy old couch, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapped tightly in a blanket. Aurum shivered: despite being a warm summer day outside, the dark room still had a chill to it. Didn't this woman have a thermostat?

The woman stared wide eyed at them, the flickering light dancing over her freckled face. She nervously parted her brown bangs. "Are you both real Huntsmen?"

"I am," Loden reassured her, taking a seat in the chair opposite her. Aurum elected to lean against the doorway behind Loden. "My partner here is a visiting student from Mistral."

The woman nodded absently, not taking notice that Aurum wasn't technically a Huntsman yet.

"What do you know about the Dovetails?" Loden asked. When the woman did not respond, Loden pressed on. "I know you and your husband are a part of the White Fang, so-"

"Were," the woman corrected him, a faraway look in her eyes. "We both tried to leave."

"Tried to?" Aurum asked. "What do you mean you "tried to"?"

"Can you get me out of Vale?" the woman said hurriedly. "I'll tell you everything I know if you get me out of the kingdom."

"We can do that," Loden said with a nod. "But first tell me what happened to the Dovetails."

"You don't understand," the woman said. "You need to get me out of here now."

"First I want to hear about the Dovetails."

The woman hugged her legs as her eyes began to tear up. "They did the same thing to my husband," she gasped. Aurum had a feeling "they" wasn't referring to the Dovetails.

"What happened to your husband?" Loden leaned forward. He undoubtedly felt the answer coming like Aurum did.

"We both wanted to leave and were already packed when they found out," the woman said in a whisper. "We had heard about what happened to Tukson and the Dovetails, but Sable thought we could make it. He left the house yesterday to buy us tickets on the next boat to Vacuo."

The woman burst into tears. Aurum started forward, not sure if to help by comforting her but Loden waved him back.

"He hasn't come back and he isn't answering his Scroll," the woman sobbed. "They got him, they got my Sable. Please, get me out of here!"

"We will, but we need to know who got Sable," Loden said, pushing the lone tissue box on the table to the woman.

"I don't know. Someone in the White Fang." The woman took and held a tissue tightly in her fist, dabbing at her tears. "But whoever they are, they got Tukson and the Dovetails, and they're after me too. No one leaves the White Fang."

"Okay, why did you leave?"

"Can you really get me out of Vale?"

"Yes," Loden said. Aurum felt the same confidence from him that followed Yang around; Loden could and would get this woman to safety.

"Sable and I heard what their plan is," the woman said, glancing around the room as if someone might have snuck in. "And we can't support something like that."

Loden leaned forward. "What is the plan?"

"It's-"

CRASH.

The window burst into shards, shredding the drapes. Light flooded the room, causing Aurum's eyes to burn. He barely made out Loden's shadow as the Huntsman lunged forward in the bright light, reaching desperately for the woman.

More shots rang out, tearing through the apartment wall. Aurum ducked into the next room, drawing both of his hatchets. Aurum peeked around the doorframe back into the room and wished he hadn't.

The woman, the one Loden had promised to protect, lay in a rapidly expanding pool of blood, her eyes still open in a state of shock.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The world felt like it was underwater. Bullets tore up the floor board, but everything happened in slow motion. He heard the sounds of the shots, of Loden yelling, but it sounded filtered like Aurum was hearing it through a wall.

All he saw was the woman's mangled body. Her upper body had been torn to bits by the shot. The woman had a surprised expression, like someone had unexpectedly poked her in the stomach. One arm was draped over her chest while the other was off to the side, palm up.

Aurum felt an urge to go hold that hand, as if simply holding it would somehow make up for her death. He knew she was already dead, that she had died alone with two Huntsmen who had promised to keep her safe. Aurum had to make up for that failed promise, even if it was just by holding a dead woman's hand.

"Aurum! Look at me! Damn it Aurum, look at me!"

Aurum slowly tore his gaze away from the mangled body. Loden had taken cover behind the couch, the couch the woman had been sitting alive on just moments before. His rifle was out and at the ready.

"Aurum," Loden said slowly and carefully, like he was talking to a child. It was a miracle Aurum could hear him over the gunshots. "I need you to call for backup. Get Ivy and your friend Henna over here now."

"What about the police?" Aurum asked quickly. The police would probably be outmatched here, but Aurum's mind had flipped into autopilot. Even when he was on the streets in Mistral, Aurum knew that if things got out of control you called the police. It was a lesson he used to rarely put into practice, but now it was the first that came to mind.

"Ivy will tell the police what's happening. Right now I need you to call her, got it?"

"Right," Aurum gasped as more bullets ripped open the floorboards two feet away from him. Crawling further into the other room, he fumbled for his Scroll. His fingers shook so much that it took him three times to unlock it.

"Get a grip Aurum," he murmured as he finally unlocked it. "You've faced Grimm. This isn't any different."

But inside Aurum knew it was different. It was one thing to face a giant monster intent on killing humanity. It was another to watch a woman get gunned down, knowing you could be next. With the Grimm you could justify the fight as saving lives. This was the first time Aurum had seen life get taken.

Aurum flipped open Henna's contact information and punched his finger into the call option. She picked up on the third ring.

"Hey, Aurum. We just got-"

"Henna!" Aurum had to shout in effort to be heard. "We need backup in Acribus Quarter. There's a gunman who's killed a woman. Loden and I are pinned down."

Aurum heard Ivy say something on the other end, but couldn't make it out. "What'd Ivy say?"

"She said "hang tight, we'll be there soon." Thank goodness Ivy didn't mess around. "Do you need us to alert Silvia and Slate?"

"Yes." Aurum ducked to the side as a vase exploded. "Get the police here too."

"Got'cha. We're on our way now. Do you know where the shooter is?"

"The shots are coming from-"

BANG.

The apartment door was flung open, slamming into the wall. Two Faunus men rushed into the apartment, one wielding two knives, the other holding a pistol. Both saw Aurum and raised their weapons.

Aurum reacted instinctively. He dropped his Scroll and hurled a hatchet at the men. The man with the pistol collapsed as the hatchet buried itself in his chest.

The other Faunus snarled as his partner fell to the ground. He leapt forward, almost stabbing Aurum in the neck. Aurum parried with his other hatchet.

Aurum kicked out, knocking the man sideways. The knives fell from the man's grasp and Aurum saw it was the wolf-tailed man from the stairwell.

"Stay down," Aurum ordered, but the man didn't listen. He scooped up one of his knives and lunged again.

Aurum didn't hesitate. He swept his remaining hatchet diagonally, burrowing into the side of the man's ribcage. The wolf-tailed man howled in pain, but still managed to weakly punch Aurum with his functioning arm. Aurum ripped out his hatchet, releasing a spurt of blood. The man howled again, falling backward. He kept a grip on his knife, and tried to stand, but bullets tore into his chest.

"Aurum, you okay?" Loden called. Aurum turned to see him crouched behind his makeshift cover, gun trained on the wolf-tailed man.

"I'm fine," Aurum answered. The gunshots from the shooter outside had stopped. "Are they gone?"

Loden thrust out his arm and quickly pulled it back behind his cover. Two holes appeared in the floor behind where Loden's arm had just been.

"No," Loden said. "Judging from the angle of those shots, it looks like they're directly across the street from us, up a story or two. And the gun must be custom made because no military sniper rifle fires that quickly between shots."

"What should we do?"

"I can't do anything," Loden checked his gun before leveling his gaze with Aurum. "Whoever they are, they've got me pinned. They must be White Fang, meaning they either knew we were coming or that they had been watching us. Whatever this woman had to tell us," he jerked his head at the dead woman, "must be really important to kill a Faunus. I reckon Ivy won't be here for another four minutes and we cannot let the shooter getaway."

"So I'll run over there and take them out." Aurum got unsteadily to his feet. He had just killed two men, two men he was supposed to protect. What was this world coming to?

Loden nodded. "I'll keep away anyone else itching for a fight. You handle that sniper."

"What about crossing the street? They'll shoot me as soon as I step outside."

"I'll try to give you some cover fire. Do your hatchets have any long range capabilities?"

Aurum looked down at his hatchet. He had been given them by Gelwaz, who had used them himself prior to losing his entire team. Aurum had always taken special care of the weapons and never changed anything about them out of respect for his mentor. His teammates and teachers had suggested on multiple occasions to remake the hatchets, give them something else besides extendable hilts. Aurum had always said no, preferring to work around their limitations, but now he realized doing so had made his job a little harder.

"No."

"Then get in there and try to take them alive if at all possible. Chances are they know what the White Fang's plan is. I'll start up the suppressive fire in sixty seconds, so be ready to run."

"Got it." Aurum ran low for the door, yanking his other hatchet from the first Faunus' man's chest. The man gave no reaction to the weapon leaving his chest. Aurum tried not to think about it as he started a mental countdown from sixty.

The hallway was empty save for four individuals, all of them Faunus. They did not stop Aurum from dashing past; they were just trying to figure out what was going on.

Aurum didn't run down the stairs so much as jumped. By the time he reached the first floor, he reckoned he had twenty five seconds left. The people on the first floor were bolder than their neighbors above. They had formed a large circle at the bottom of the stairs, blocking his path.

"What's going on?" an older woman demanded as Aurum stopped on the last step.

"Huntsmen business," Aurum said. Something told him that he shouldn't elaborate, especially since he had probably killed two of their neighbors. In self-defense, but this crowd wouldn't view it that way. To them, he had just killed two brave men who were, in their eyes, defending themselves. "Excuse me, but I have to get through."

A Faunus boy looking to be around Aurum's age stepped forward, blocking his path. A lion tail whipped aggressively behind him. "Answer the lady," he ordered, like he was some sort of leader.

"I told you, it is huntsmen business." Aurum tightened his grip on his hatchets. He had only twelve seconds until Loden began shooting. "Now move."

"We're not going anywhere," the lion Faunus said, pushing aside his long locks of tan hair.

"You're interfering with a Huntsmen mission, a punishable offense in any kingdom," Aurum said, faking confidence and hoping he was right. He wasn't sure if that was an actual law, much less one in every kingdom but he needed these people to move. He raised his hatchets, not wanting to hurt any of these people but knew he might have to if they were to catch that sniper.

The lion Faunus smirked. Aurum got the feeling that this was what he wanted. But why fight Aurum for not answering a question? No, the lion Faunus had to have a different reason.

Everyone backed away as the lion Faunus pulled out a long serrated knife.

Aurum's time ran out; everyone froze at the sound of Loden's rifle opening up. The lion Faunus glanced up at the gun shots, giving Aurum an opportunity. It was obvious he wasn't going to get past without a fight, so Aurum would have to make it as quick as possible.

Aurum jumped forward and kicked the Faunus in the chest. The Faunus fell back, but quickly recovered. He rushed Aurum, knife ready.

If Aurum wanted to end this fight quickly, he would have to play his ace.

Aurum tapped into his Semblance.

Aurum became instantly more aware of the world around him: his nervous system was receiving a major boost from his Aura. He felt the two drops of sweat on the back of his neck. His skin tingled at the ever so slight breeze wafting from the stairwell. Every footstep of the charging lion Faunus sounded like a pounding drum.

Aurum had used his semblance only a few times in the past. He had discovered it by accident three years ago when he had fought off some bullies from his younger brother Nave. It was his semblance that had convinced Gelwaz to train him. Aurum had always been hesitant to use it since it left him drained from giving his nervous system even a small boost. He had never tested its limits before, but according to Gelwaz, he could expand them by using his semblance more. But he had not really needed it during lessons at Haven or in Vale so far, so his semblance's limits had not been furthered much more than when he discovered it. Team ASHS had tried to keep a secret for the Vytal Festival tournament, an ace up their sleeve for when they needed it.

A grin spread across Aurum's face as the lion Faunus slashed his knife at his chest. He had already predicted that the lion Faunus would try this and had already come up with a counter strike.

He took a step back, the blade swishing just inches away from his chest. The lion Faunus tried to bring the knife back around in a stabbing motion, but Aurum never let him get there. Hooking the blade with both hatchets, Aurum flipped the weapon from the Faunus' startled hands. The knife went flying through the air, luckily missing everyone and burrowing itself into the wall with a THUNK.

The Faunus recovered surprisingly quickly. He threw a punch, but Aurum ducked low.

Aurum kicked out in a sweeping motion, knocking the lion Faunus to the floor. Aurum slammed the butt of a hatchet into the Faunus' head, knocking him out.

Aurum would have congratulated himself on such a quick takedown, except he hadn't been quick enough: the gunshots had ceased. He had no cover fire to cross the street.

The crowd of Faunus held back as Aurum ran out the door to the street. No doubt they would've caused him trouble once they got over their shock, but Aurum wasn't going to wait around.

He could feel his semblance beginning to shut down, his nervous system tired from the boost it had received. He would have to work on improving his endurance before the tournament.

He ducked down beside a parked car. The street was empty: everyone was taking cover indoors. Sirens sounded in the distance.

Aurum went through his options. Henna and Ivy were on their way. So were the police. He could wait here for them and hope the sniper would stay put. No, then they would have a standoff.

He could call Loden and make a new plan. The Huntsman would understand. But that would take time.

That left only the original plan: Aurum taking out the sniper. A sniper who would have a clear shot at him during the seven seconds it would take to cross the street. If Aurum made it, he was confident he could take down the sniper in close quarters.

Loden had said the sniper was across the road, on either the sixth or seventh floor. The building in question was an old office building. Judging from the exposed brick and vines creeping into broken windows, the building had been abandoned for a few years now.

His hatchets suddenly felt like a poor choice in weapons. Aurum once again realized how pointless they were here.

"Gotta run through gunfire to be able to fight," he muttered, gripping the weapons tightly. He looked up to see the Faunus from the apartments crowded at the door. They just glared at the junior Huntsman: none wanted to brave the streets now. That didn't stop one little girl from flipping him off before her parents pushed her back.

Aurum braced himself, held his hatchets to cover his head, and pushed himself out from behind the car.

The ground erupted behind him, bullets screaming past, ruffling his hair. Then more shots rang out, but these were not aimed at Aurum: Loden was firing another set of cover fire. Aurum could've whooped with joy as the sniper stopped firing to take cover.

Aurum jumped the steps to the office building. The doors were padlocked shut, but one sweep of his hatchets knocked the chains clean off.

The lobby of the building was completely empty, light shining in from the broken windows. Aurum sprinted past the reception desk into the shadowy hallway, keeping his head on a swivel. The sniper was upstairs, but someone could still be waiting to ambush Aurum in the dark.

His sneakers echoed on the floor as he dashed to a stairwell. He pushed open the doors and mounted the stairs two at a time.

As he got to the third landing, a door slammed from further up the stairwell.

Aurum froze as footsteps slapped against the stone stairs. For a second he thought the person was coming down until he heard another door open and close even further up. The sniper was one the move.

Pulse racing, Aurum raced up the stairs. This was it, he had them cornered. Judging from the sounds, the sniper had run up to the eighth floor. The only way down was the stairs. It was perfect.

Reaching the eighth floor, Aurum raised a hatchet, ready to throw it at anything that moved once he opened the door. Loden preferred the sniper to be alive, so he would have to aim it just right.

Flinging open the door, Aurum emerged into a dark storage room. The large space was empty except for a few crates and boxes. Against the far wall was a maintenance ladder.

They were up on roof, Aurum realized. The angle would be too steep for Loden to get a shot, if the Huntsman was still in the apartment. There would be no cover fire this time.

Aurum grasped the ladder and climbed, hatchets still in hand. His right hand slipped halfway up, but Aurum keep a firm grip on the hatchet.

The maintenance hatch was surprisingly heavy, but Aurum pushed it open. The bright sunlight was like fire compared to the office building's dark interior. Aurum brought a hand up to shield his eyes, momentarily blinded.

CRACK.

The world went nearly black as the metal maintenance hatch slammed into his skull. The force of the blow knocked all feeling from Aurum's body. He barely registered falling from the ladder, didn't even feel his right foot get caught in the rungs before being ripped free. Some part of Aurum realized he'd regain feeling later and probably be in enormous pain.

The hard floor was that later.

Aurum hit the floor with mix of a SLAP and a cracking sound. His left arm erupted in what white hot pain, bone breaking from the impact. He must've twisted in midair when his foot got caught. No doubt breaking his arm saved Aurum from worse injuries, but all Aurum could think about was the pain. Aurum tried to focus, calm his mind as he forced his Aura to try to fix his broken body. Gelwaz had tried to teach him this, but they had never spent much time on it. Aurum regretted that now. His Aura was not powerful enough to block the pain nor mend the arm, but maybe it could start fixing it now.

A thud sounded behind him as someone dropped to the ground. Aurum braced himself with his right arm, craning his neck to see who it was.

A masked figure was stepped towards him, slipping from the rays of light from the maintenance hatch into the shadows of the storage room.

Despite the large antlered Grimm mask that completely obscured their face, the person was obviously a woman. She wore the typical White Fang uniform of black covered by a white sleeveless jacket, except hers clung more tightly to her curvy form. Over her left shoulder was draped a short black cape, hiding some of the tattoos that encircled her bare arms. A bandolier of bullets looped across her chest, disappearing under her cape. A sniper rifle was clutched in her arms, trained on Aurum's head.

Aurum froze. This lady was a finger pull away of ending his life. His pain seemed to disappear as he stared directly at the barrel of the gun ten inches from his nose, waiting for a flash of light as it ended his life. He probably wouldn't even see that; at this range he would get no warning of the bullet that would kill him. Aurum would just cease to exist.

How would his family react to the news? Would his team be okay? Hopefully everyone would be alright without him, but Aurum wasn't ready to say goodbye. Would Yang be sad?

For exactly ten seconds, neither of them moved. For Aurum, those ten seconds were the most terrifying ten seconds of his life.

Then Antler Lady pulled the trigger.

Aurum collapsed on the ground as he tried to shield himself with his good hand. He closed his eyes, waiting for the end, but nothing came. One eye opened to figure out why he wasn't dead.

Antler Lady's gun was changing. The gun must have had two triggers, one to fire and another to switch its modes. A blade had shot forward along the barrel, which had shortened considerably. The stock had slid forward while the scope collapsed. The weapon looked like a chain saw, except the blades had been replaced by a single, long blade.

Aurum clawed desperately for his hatchet but found neither of them: both had been lost when he fell, which was probably a blessing and a curse. He hadn't impaled himself while falling but now he was completely defenseless.

Antler Lady pressed the blade right up against his throat. Aurum swallowed, the slight movement causing a single drop of his blood ran down the blade.

"I could kill you Goldie," Antler Lady said, her voice surprising soft. Aurum stared into the red eyes of the mask. Goldie was the nickname his mother had given him when he was younger. Did he know this woman or was she just lucky in choosing a nickname because of his hair? The woman tilted her head and applied a little more pressure to her weapon. A small trickle of blood chased the previous drop down the blade.

"But that would be no fun," she cooed. Antler Lady reached into her pocket and pulled out a small packet. "Your Huntsmen friends are close to catching me, and I would hate to deprive them of such a valuable witness. Maybe next time, okay Goldie?"

She tilted the bag slightly and a trickle of black powder fell onto Aurum's face. Some of it got into Aurum's nose and he instinctively inhaled so as to sneeze it out. As soon as the powder entered his nose, he collapsed. The world went dark, whether from the powder of because he heard the maintenance hatch swing shut he did not know. He faintly heard voices from deeper in the building, people calling his name.

Then Aurum was lost to the world.


	6. Chapter 6

**Well guys, here is Chapter 6. A little later then I said, but I got it all done and ready.  
**

Chapter 6

Aurum felt like complete and total crap, which was putting it very lightly.

His body was sore all over, like all his muscles had decided to get cramps together. Aurum tried to open his eyes, but immediately shut them. Was the world usually that blindingly bright?

Maybe this was the afterlife. That was a terrifying thought. Aurum wasn't ready to face eternal damnation. He wasn't religious at all, but Aurum knew he could've done more good in his life. It wasn't fair that he died before he could become a Huntsman. That would've given him an express ticket to a better place. Hopefully he would get points for trying.

His left arm felt like it was wrapped up in something stiff. And why couldn't he feel his right leg?

Being dead sucked.

Memories slowly trickled to his consciousness. He had been chasing a member of the White Fang. She had slammed a maintenance hatch on his head, which hurt to think about. He had fallen, pulling his leg and breaking his arm. Antler Lady had knocked him out with a black powder.

"So what now?" someone asked. It took a few seconds to recognize Slate's voice. So Aurum wasn't dead.

"Ozpin is allowing you three to still help us," a woman said. "Loden wants to hunt down whoever attacked Aurum. Hopefully Aurum can give us a lead once he wakes up."

"Don't hold your breath," Aurum rasped. He squinted at the crowd around his sick bed. He tried to raise his good hand to shield his eyes, but got tangled in the IV in his forearm.

Slate sat on the couch under the hospital window, Henna leaning her head on his shoulder; both somehow still had their weapons. The hospital staff must not be too picky about Huntsmen weapons, especially since Aurum's hatchets lay on the side table.

Silvia had pulled up a chair next to the bed, leaning towards Aurum. She returned his weak smile.

A woman got up from the chair opposite Slate and Henna. Aurum had seen her only once before, so it took him a moment to remember Ivy. He had met Ivy when Team ASSH had started their mission.

Ivy wore a green cloak cut to her waist, white trousers and combat boots. Her short black hair had a natural windblown look. The only jewelry she had was a pair of silver claw earrings. Twin swords hung at her sides.

"Well, good morning sleepy head," Ivy said with a smile. "Hope you slept well."

"What time is it?" Aurum groaned.

"Twelve-twenty in the morning," Slate said, nudging Henna awake. "We just got here an hour ago."

"We've been busy trying to find that sniper." Ivy turned her chair around and sat down so that her legs straddled the seat. "Before we call it a night we thought we'd visit you."

"Have you caught her yet?"

"See, this is why we haven't caught 'her'." Ivy pulled a pocket notepad and pen from her cloak and made a note. "We didn't even know they were a she."

"But what about witnesses?" Aurum asked. "There were lots of people around. Someone must've seen something."

"No one wants to help us," Slate said. "They think you and Loden killed the woman in the apartment."

"What?!"

"Only witness statement we got," Ivy flipped through her notepad, stopping at one, "is about a junior Huntsman "savagely attacking" a Faunus teenage boy for asking a question."

Aurum was speechless. The Faunus claimed he attacked that boy? And how could they claim that woman's murder on him and Loden? They had been trying to protect her!

"Loden told us about what happened in the apartment," Ivy said as Aurum tried to form words. "But he didn't know what happened after you left it. Mind telling us about that?"

Aurum recounted what happened, from when he left the apartment to when Antler Lady knocked him out. Ivy took notes and occasionally asked a question. She made Aurum give a full description of Antler Lady's appearance. She also asked a few questions about her weapon.

"As for the black powder," Ivy said, tucking the notebook back under her cloak, "I know enough about that. The police have caught the White Fang using it quite a lot lately."

"What is it?" Silvia asked. "Is it a type of drug?"

"Kind of. It's a mix of a tranquilizing drug and residue of the reaction between Earth and Lightning Dust."

"Wouldn't the Earth Dust just cancel out the Lightning?" Slate said.

"Yes," Ivy said. "But when it does, it leaves a black powder. Combine that with the tranquilizer and you get a powder that knocks out humans in small amounts, but is lethal in larger doses."

"Aurum will be alright though, right?" Silvia asked.

"Course he will." Henna had been silent till now, but glared at Silvia. "Didn't you just hear her say it's only lethal in large doses? He obviously isn't dead, so Aurum must be fine."

"What's your problem?" Silvia looked taken aback at Henna's attitude. Aurum was surprised as well. Henna usually wasn't like this.

Henna rolled her eyes. "We've spent the last few hours looking for this lady and haven't found her. Not to mention it's almost one in the morning."

"She's right, we all need some rest." Ivy turned her chair back around and stretched.

"Before you go," Aurum said quickly. When he had been retelling his story, an idea had come to him. He wanted Ivy's opinion on it. "Do you think the lion Faunus who attacked me might be White Fang?"

"Around thirty percent of that neighborhood is actual White Fang," Ivy said, "and the rest are all sympathizers. If he isn't a member, then he's connected to them somehow."

"What I mean is do you think he's in league with Antler Lady?" Aurum clarified. "Like, what if he was her backup?"

"What makes you think that?" Ivy's notebook was back out.

"Well, isn't it weird that the White Fang didn't try to kill that woman until two Huntsmen showed up? Why not kill her sooner, like how they did Dovetails and Tukson?"

"You think they were waiting for you and Loden?" Silvia asked. "That it was all a trap?"

"One of the Faunus who attacked me in the apartment, the wolf tailed one, he was on the stairwell when we came in," Aurum recalled. "What if he was a lookout for them? Maybe he and his friend were supposed to kill us while we were pinned down by sniper fire."

"What about the lion Faunus?" Slate asked.

Aurum thought for a few seconds and then got it. "He was the insurance. If Loden and I fought off the other two, he was there to make sure we didn't catch Antler Lady."

"Not very good insurance then," Henna muttered.

"He wasn't expecting Aurum's Semblance," Silvia pointed out. "If Aurum hadn't used it, the lion Faunus would probably have been able to distract him long enough for Antler Lady to escape."

"I think Aurum threw them all for a loop," Ivy mused. "If all this is true, then they probably weren't expecting Loden to have someone with him. If Aurum wasn't there, Loden would've been killed."

"Where is Loden?" Aurum asked. There was no sign that the rifleman had been to visit.

"He's still at the crime scene trying to figure stuff out," Ivy said. "I'll tell him your theory and see what he thinks."

"Can't I tell him?" Aurum shouldn't have cared who told Loden, but he felt like he had to make up for the mission. Now that Aurum thought about it, he had been a little reckless chasing after Antler Lady without more caution.

His teammates exchanged looks.

"Aurum," Silvia said carefully. "You're not going to be helping us anymore."

"What?" Aurum tried to sit up but gasped in pain. "Why?"

"That's why," Slate nodded at Aurum's body.

"The doctors say your injuries are too severe to help us," Henna said. Aurum took notice of how she said "us", like he was no longer part of the group.

"We called Professor Ozpin," Ivy said before Aurum could protest. "He wants you to come back to Beacon and rest. He's sending some students to pick you up in the morning."

"Yeah?" Aurum said hotly. Why couldn't he help? Sure, he wasn't able to fight but he could still help. "Yeah, well Ozpin isn't my headmaster. I can still help out."

"He is the headmaster of Beacon and is in charge of Vale's security," Ivy said rather coldly. "If he says you're returning to Beacon, then that's where you're going."

"But-"

"That's final. We all need some sleep so say your goodbyes. We'll let you know what happens."

Henna got up and said good night. Slate gave Aurum's good arm a playful slap before promising to get Antler lady for what she did to Aurum. The door clicked shut behind them. Silvia had hung back, fixing Aurum with a stare.

"Promise me you will rest while we're gone," she said, putting her chair against the wall.

"Why do I have to promise?" Aurum grunted. "It's not like I'm able to do anything."

"I know, but I also know you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're not the type of person to sit on the sidelines."

"You've got that right."

"Please, just promise you'll stay at Beacon," Silvia pleaded. "You shouldn't go off on your own until you're better."

"Why do you really want me to say it?" Aurum asked.

Silvia fumbled for what to say. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I just want to hear it from you, okay?"

"Fine," Aurum relented. "I promise to stay at Beacon."

"Great." Silvia bent over and gave him a soft hug, avoiding his broken arm.

"Don't worry," she said, pulling away. "We'll catch that lady and be back in time for the dance."

Oh, yeah the dance. Aurum realized that without a Huntsmen mission to distract him, he now had to deal with this next hurdle in his life. At least he now had plenty of time to think about it. He still had almost a week.

Aurum pulled up his covers and fell asleep almost instantly. He did not notice his Scroll on the bedside table blink, trying to alert him to the unread messages he had.

Nine hours later, the doctors released him from the hospital. The last of the black powder had left his system and they weren't too worried about his broken arm and sprained leg. He would have to come back in a few days for a checkup, but for now the doctors were going to wait. They wanted to see what his Aura did. It had already started slowly healing his leg so Aurum only had to wear a brace and promise not to be on his feet for extended periods of time. His arm would take longer to heal, but the doctors were confident he'd be able to fight in the tournament.

Aurum collected his gear before hobbling into the elevator. All he had were his hatchets, his credit card, and Scroll. He didn't have a chance of clothes, so he had been forced to put on his clothes from yesterday. Even he had to admit he was starting to smell a little ripe. First thing he would do once he got back to Beacon was shower. And that was all he had to look forward to.

He checked his Scroll to find he was back loaded with messages. Some were from fellow students from Haven wishing him a speedy recovery (Team ABRN had sent him a group message), but the majority were from Yang. The news-media must have done a story on what had happened, because she seemed pretty worried in her earlier messages. Someone must have eventually told her how he was doing (probably Ozpin or a teacher), because Yang's last message had been hoping him a speedy recovery.

The elevator doors slide open and Aurum limped into the lobby. Ozpin had sent him a personal message at nine o'clock that morning saying he was sending a student to bring him back to Beacon. It was a surprise to see his message, since the headmaster of Beacon no doubt had more important issues to deal with than another academy's injured student. Ozpin could have easily had another teacher handle it, but for some reason he didn't. Aurum was starting to see why Loden had spoken with so much respect for the man: Ozpin really cared for his students. He didn't care if you were from another academy.

A quick scan of the lobby and Aurum immediately spotted who Ozpin had sent. The red hood was a big giveaway.

"Aurum!" Ruby called with a wave. She jumped from her chair and began threading her way through the maze of chairs. Aurum was surprised by who followed behind her.

Sun Wukong. Why was he here?

"Hey, wassup?" Ruby asked.

"What are you guys doing here?" Aurum asked, addressing the question at Sun. Not that Sun was unwelcome, but it was a surprise to see the Faunus here. "I thought Ozpin was only sending one student."

"I tagged along to see how you're doing." Sun clasped his hands behind his blonde head, looking like he reclining vertically. His white jacket was unzipped like usual, showcasing his abs since Sun rarely wore a shirt. "Like, your teammate might be a jerk, but we've always been cool with each other."

"Yeah, sorry about Slate," Aurum said.

"Don't worry about it." Sun flashed a grin that would rival Neptune's. "He just better be ready for the tournament, cause I won't pull my punches this time."

"So how are you feeling?" Ruby asked.

"Not so great," Aurum admitted. "The doctor says I'm lucky my Aura took most of the blows. Hopefully it'll patch me up real quick."

"What happened?" Sun inquired. His monkey tail swished behind him. "The news said that there was a shootout between you and some White Fang in Acribus Quarter. Some lady got shot."

Aurum recounted the entire story again as they walked out the door and down the street. By the time he finished, they had walked a few blocks and could see Beacon in the distance.

"Dude, that's crazy," Sun said. Ruby had been eerily silent as Aurum talked. She seemed to be deep in thought now. "Do you think they'll catch Antler lady?" (Aurum had called her that to help simplify the story).

"Maybe." Aurum sighed. "She sounded pretty confident, like this was all just a game to her."

"You know," Sun stopped as he ducked aside so a couple could pass. They took one look at Sun's tail and quickened their pace.

"Ignore it," Sun said as Aurum watched the couple shot Sun a dirty look. "It's not worth dealing with."

"It kind of is."

"As I was saying," Sun said, moving on. "I think you're right. If that lion guy had just let you pass, Antler lady wouldn't have gotten the jump on you and you might have actually caught her."

"To bad we can't do anything," Aurum said. He had told Ruby and Sun his theory that it had all been a trap. "If only we knew their real names. Then we could figure out if I'm right."

Ruby and Sun exchanged looks.

"Yang might know someone who could help." Ruby glanced cautiously at Sun, who was glaring daggers.

"Remember what happened last time we did something like this?" Sun's tail whipped angrily around. "I don't think everyone wants to do it again."

"Aww, common! We might find something else out."

"What are you two talking about?"

"Aurum, we might be able to help," Sun said, staring down Ruby. "But first we need to have a little team meeting."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys. Sorry for taking so long but I've been pretty busy at work.**

 **Anyway, time to refresh the disclaimer. I do not own RWBY or any of its characters, which all belong to Roosterteeth.**

Chapter 7

Aurum got some lunch in the cafeteria while Ruby, Sun, and co. had a little meeting. They must've still been talking when Aurum was done eating, so Aurum sent Yang a quick message that he'd be in the library waiting for them whenever they were done.

Beacon's library was an impressive sight. It was a large open room full of shelves and long tables, topped by a rectangular second story with even more books and tables, and a third story of selves running the width of both ends of the room. And that was only the main public area. Beacon housed plenty of storerooms below the building, filled with books for students to request.

Aurum was not sure how long their meeting would last, so he browsed the shelves before selecting a book to read. Taking a seat at an empty table on the second floor, Aurum opened up _Remnant: Its History and Secrets._ From what the back cover read, the book was a mixture of a historical and conspiracy theory novel. Aurum had picked it to learn more about the Vital Festival and its biannual tournament, but instead he got caught up on the history of Vale.

He lost track of time as he read of Vale's tumultuous past. Like all of the four kingdoms, Vale's long period of peace was somewhat marred by attacks from the Grimm. Although the kingdom had managed to keep Grimm away from the city and outer villages, the monsters would always find a way to test Vale's defenses. No major breach had happened to the main part of Vale within the past century, but Aurum read the full chapter on Mountain Glenn. He was utterly entranced as he learned of Vale's greatest catastrophe, how the attempted expansion of Vale had failed when the Grimm broke through. The government had sealed the area off from the rest of Vale, saving the kingdom but dooming the thousands of people in Mountain Glenn to their fate.

Aurum was reading about how the disaster had led to an increase in Huntsmen when Ruby found him.

"There you are," Ruby said. Yang, Sun, and a dark haired girl followed her around the bookshelf. It took Aurum a second to remember the dark haired girl's name. Blake had only spoken to him when they meet on Aurum's first day in Vale, but he had seen her around Beacon. She and Yang had seemed to be tight friends because whenever he spotted Yang, Blake was usually around like her shadow. She didn't look so good though: shadows under her eyes and, if it was possible, she seemed even more out putting than usual. "What are you doing?"

"Reading."

Ruby scratched her head. "In the library?"

"What else would you do in a library besides reading?"

"Ugh, not you too," Sun complained. "I'm surrounded by nerds."

"So how are you feeling?" Yang asked, taking a seat at the table. The others followed suit, Sun offering the last spot to Blake. She gave him an odd look but took the spot.

"Same as this morning, I guess," Aurum admitted. "Are you guys going to help me?"

"We talked it over and, yes we will," Yang said. "If he isn't tired of seeing me, I have a friend we can visit on the shady side of town."

"Let's just hope we don't have to fight another giant robot," Sun said.

"That really was you guys?" Aurum asked in amazement.

"Yeah, it was awesome," Ruby said. "Although, it was mostly just team RWBY fighting."

"Hey, Neptune and I helped," Sun protested.

"And got noodles while we finished it off," Yang said.

"What were you guys even doing last time?"

"We were trying to figure out what the White Fang were doing," Ruby said like she had just told them what the weather was like.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Sun said. "It was totally awesome."

"So what happened?" Aurum asked. "The news didn't cover what went down."

Ruby's eyes lit up. "Well, we all split up into groups. Weiss and I checked the dust robbery records, Yang and Neptune asked Yang's friend about why some goons were working with the White Fang, and Sun and Blake infiltrated a White Fang meeting!"

"Are you serious?" Aurum stared at Sun and Blake. Loden and Ivy had spent the last two months tracking down White Fang, and the two of them had gotten into a meeting? "How'd you guys even do that?"

Blake glanced up sharply. Her expression resembled a cornered animal.

"We have our ways," Sun said quickly. "Anyway, we were found out and the giant robot attacked us."

"But we took care of it," Ruby said proudly.

"Yeah. It was a tough fight, but it went out with a Yang."

Yang grinned at her pun while everyone just stared.

"What? It did," she insisted.

"Can we focus?" Blake snapped. "We need a plan if we're going to find out more about these White Fang."

"Not really," Yang said, leaning back. "We're just going to ask a few questions, that's it. I could just take Aurum on my bike and do this alone."

Aurum's heart skipped a beat. Go alone with Yang? On her bike? Butterflies entered his stomach just thinking about how amazing that would be. He opened his mouth to agree to that plan, but Blake cut him off.

"No, I'm coming."

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Ruby asked. Under Blake's glowering gaze, she backtracked. "I mean, you have been really pushing yourself over the past few days. Might be better if you hang here and rest."

"I'm coming."

"Then I might as well tag along." Sun stretched. "Sounds like this could be some fun."

"Totally," Ruby agreed, keeping a concerned eye on Blake. "I want to see this club. According to Neptune, it's pretty epic."

"Alright then." Yang got up from her seat. "Let's head out after dinner."

The group all had dinner together in the cafeteria, and was it an experience for Aurum. Team RWBY was an odd bunch. Blake kept to herself, but Ruby and Yang made jokes all through the meal. Aurum both laughed and groaned at Yang's puns. Weiss, who had joined them, complained about the sister's antics. Sun tried to speak with Blake, but gave up and joined in with the girls.

He was introduced to team JNPR, an equally interesting group. Their leader, a guy named Juane Arc, took a seat beside Weiss and immediately began trying to flirt with her (sad to say, he failed spectacularly). Weiss' nickname "Ice Queen" was very fitting. Aurum noticed Pyrrha, who he immediately recognized as the world renowned fighter, watch they exchange with a sad, longing eye. Nora, an overly energetic girl, went off on some story about what happened to them that day with the last teammate, Ren, correcting her.

Neptune showed up halfway through, stealing Weiss' attention from Juane. After hearing about how Aurum was doing, Neptune said he'd be staying behind at Beacon while they visited Yang's friend. Aurum got the feeling Yang wasn't really friends with this person and got a horrible thought. Maybe Yang's "friend" was an ex.

Neptune claimed he was staying to help Weiss prepare for the dance, but Aurum got the feeling he just wanted to spend time with her. Juane must've picked up on it too because he got very quiet for the rest of the meal.

Forty five minutes later, the group of Aurum, Yang, Ruby, Sun and Blake stood outside Yang's "friend's" place, which turned out to be a club on the sketchy side of town.

"Sooo," Aurum said, gazing at the place. It was enormous but there was nothing remarkable about the place: just another red brick corner building next to the highway overpass. "Yang, you said this was what? A dance club or something?"

"Go with 'or something'."

Two men in black suits lounged on the couches in the middle of the lobby. They must've been the bouncers for the club, but no one was around so they were busy playing cards. One glanced up at them, locked eyes with Yang, and bolted down the hallway. The other man threw his cards in the air and dashed after his companion. Two heavy doors slide shut behind them with a thud.

"I'm honestly not sure how this place would stay in business if Junior didn't fund it with his illegal activities," Yang remarked, ignoring the two men's reactions to her. "I've only seen the dance floor packed once."

"Do you know those two?" Aurum nodded down the hallway at the closed doorway.

"Nah, they just remember me."

Sun tried the doors, but they were sealed shut. "Now what?"

"Out of the way." Everyone took a few steps back as Yang raised her gauntlets. There was a sharp CLICK as Yang loaded a round.

As she pulled her arm back, the doors slide open and a man quickly stepped through with his hands held high. At least ten men in suits were clustered behind him, nervously gripping pistols. Nobody paid Aurum, Ruby, Sun or Blake any mind. All eyes and guns were trained on Yang.

"Blondie," the lead man said, smoothing down his black vest and red tie. "What is it this time?"

"I've got some more questions for you, Junior." Yang brought her gauntlets down and gave him a girly smile.

"If I don't have the answers," Junior looked apprehensive, "could you not wreck the place again?"

Yang giggled. She must really enjoy playing with this guy. "I didn't wreck it last time."

"You blew up the door! And just after I repaired everything from you last visit. Do you know how much money you've cost me?"

Yang strode past him, pulling Junior along by his tie. Junior's henchmen scrambled to clear a path for her.

The main area of the club was impressive. The dance floor dominated as the center piece, six pillars of glass fading into different colors around it. Strobe lights flashed everywhere, making Aurum seriously question how long it took for that to get annoying. Two bars lined both walls, doing a steady business as patrons wandered along the stairs leading up to the walkways ringing the room. Against the far wall a DJ jammed, wearing a giant bear mask.

Yang pulled Junior to the bar on the right, Ruby following happily behind her big sis.

"Strawberry sunrise," Yang said, rapping the counter. The bartender nodded and started on the drink, discarding the one he'd just been fixing.

"So what do you want this time?" Junior collapsed onto a stool. He gave a resigned sigh, obviously wanting to get this over with quickly so he could get Yang out of his club.

"Actually, I don't want anything." Yang smirked at his confused expression. She pointed to Aurum. "He does."

"How well do you know the White Fang?" Aurum inquired.

Junior thought over his answer. "I've done some work with them," he admitted. "But if you're a friend of her," he jerked his head at Yang, "then you knew that. So what do you really want to know?"

"Do you know anything about a member of theirs who wears a Grimm mask with antlers? Or if there's a lion Faunus who uses a knife with them?"

Junior scratched his beard, peering at Aurum's cast. "Wait a sec, you're that kid who got his ass whooped by her."

"How'd you know that?"

"Kid, I known just about everyone. I hear about these things."

"Plus the news did a story on it," Ruby muttered. Junior didn't hear her.

"Well now I want to find her." Aurum limped a little closer. "So tell me what you know."

"Blondie, is he related to you? Because he sure has your spirit."

"Nope. Thanks," she told the bartender as he slid her a glass. "Aw, you even remembered the umbrella!"

"Look, you of all people should know not to be asking about them." Junior jammed his finger into Aurum's chest. "They have sources for information too."

"But you do know her," Blake said. It was the first time she'd spoken since dinner.

"Yeah, I know about her and the lion Faunus kid. They're both serious pieces of work, and even I don't want to cross the two of them."

"Then the lion guy is a part of the White Fang," Ruby said triumphantly. Junior scowled and tried to get up.

"Talk," Sun demanded, pushing the man back onto his stool. "Or else."

"Or else what?"

"I'll do something violent," Yang said, sipping her drink. "Remember what happens when I'm violent?"

"You don't understand," Junior growled. "Just by asking about them you've already put all of us in danger. I don't want to get in more trouble with the White Fang."

Yang brought a gauntlet up, aiming it at Junior.

The color left Junior's face. "What do you want to know?"

"Names," Aurum demanded.

Junior sighed. "The boy's name is Leo Tawny. From what I've heard, he's a new recruit turned into a complete radical. Now days he's been helping kill anyone who tries to leave the White Fang."

"What about the woman?" Ruby asked.

"Very few know her name, since she is the White Fang's best assassin. Rumors say she reports only to their leader, Adam Taurus." Blake shifted, but Junior continued in a low voice. "From what I've heard, the majority of the White Fang don't even know she exists. Only Taurus and his lieutenant know who she is really, but I was able to find out her name from some of my contacts."

"Well, what is it?" Yang said, accompanying it with an annoying slurp as she sucked up the last of her drink.

"Ciara Peryton. I don't know anything about her life before joining the White Fang, but maybe she's got records with the government." Junior ran his fingers through his hair. "Look, is that all you want to know? I've got better things to do than talk to you kids."

"We heard," Aurum said carefully, "that the White Fang are about to do something really big. You know anything about it?"

Yang, Ruby, Sun and Blake all stared at Aurum. When he had retold Sun and Ruby about what happened in Acribus Quarter, he hadn't told them that the White Fang were planning something. He hadn't wanted to startle them but if Junior knew what the White Fang were planning, Aurum had to find out.

Junior smirked. "You heard about that too, huh? I don't know what it is they're planning, except that it'll be big. I swear that's all I know."

The group exchanged glances, everyone mentally wondering if there was anything else they needed to know. This was plenty of information to go on in Aurum's opinion.

"Then that's all we need to know," Aurum said. He offered his good hand out to Junior. "Thanks for your help."

But Junior did not shake it. His eyes were fixed on Aurum's hand.

"They're here," he said, his complexion turning drastically paler. He started slowly backing away. Aurum turned his hand to see what had someone like Junior terrified.

A red dot sat on the back of Aurum's hand. Aurum's breath caught in his throat.

"Actually Junior," a voice called from across the dance floor. In the course of their conversation, the dancers had gotten eerily silent. "I have a question of my own to ask."

Aurum turned, mirroring Junior's slow movements.

Across the hall, a small band of White Fang surveyed the hall with their rifles. They were perched on the walkway over the bar, forcing Junior's customers to crane their necks back. At their head was Ciara Peryton, her antlered Grimm mask looking even more mysterious in the club's flashing lights.

"Junior baby," she crooned. The red dot travelled up Aurum's arm, coming to rest on his chest. "Why would you help these poor children? Did you think I wouldn't find out?"

"I don't want any trouble," Junior said, holding his hands up. His henchmen weren't moving to deal with the White Fang. But at Junior's nod, they all drew an assortment of weapons, ranging from pistols to swords and hatchets. The bear masked DJ looked a lot more frightening with an SMG clutched in his hands. Two girls emerged from the crowd of dancers. One of the girl's silver heels looked wicked sharp and the other had dual red claws. Both scoffed at Ciara.

"Leave now," Junior continued, bolder now with people to back his words, "or someone will be getting hurt."

Ciara laughed. "If anyone is going to be getting hurt, it is going to be you, Junior. I don't like it when people talk about me behind my back."

"They threatened to wreck the place," Junior protested. He leveled a finger at Ciara. "And I swear, if you so much as break one light, I will make you pay through the nose for it. You do not want me as your enemy."

"You're time in Vale is over, Junior. The White Fang are in charge, even if these Huntsmen here don't know it yet." Ciara snapped her fingers, her gun still steady on Aurum's chest.

The doors burst open behind her, thrown open by a horde of dark grey metallic people. But people usually did not move so stiffly, or have dual miniguns in the place of hands. Red lights emanated from their grey "faces," giving the things a creepy look.

"Atlesian Knight-130s," Blake muttered. She drew her sword and sharpened sheath.

Aurum counted at least fifty of the robots. Junior's henchmen all glanced at their boss, waiting for his call. Junior just stood in shock.

"Atlas is in the process of replacing these poor souls, so one of the White Fang's friends was able to rescue them from being recycled." Despite the mask, Aurum could hear Ciara's smirk in how she spoke. "I don't like snitches, so I thought I might use a few to teach you a lesson, Junior. And since the children went and spoiled the game by asking questions, I might as well take out two birds with one stone."

The Atlesian Knights all raised their miniguns, but it was Ciara who fired the first shot.


	8. Chapter 8

**So this and the next chapter were originally going to be just one chapter, but it ended up being pretty long after revisions so I decided to split them into two. They'll both be shorter than the previous chapters (sorry about that). I'll have Chapter 9 up really soon.**

Chapter 8

Aurum's legs were taken out from under him as someone tackled his hips into the ground. The floor behind him exploded as the bullet missed its mark.

Aurum crashed into the side of the bar, luckily avoiding directly hitting his broken arm. He still got a jolt of pain from the limb, but it was better than getting shot. Aurum turned to thank his savior, recognizing the blonde hair.

"Uh," he said. It was hard to focus when Yang was spear eagled with her arms still around his waist.

"Stay down," she said, pulling herself up. Yang glared at Ciara, who had already switched targets.

The bartender threw Junior a metal baseball bat. Junior swung, deflecting Ciara's next bullet into the ceiling.

"Boys!" he roared, knocking aside another bullet. "Get rid of these freaks. White Fang, robot, Huntsmen, I don't care. They all have to pay!"

Yang and the group scattered as shots fired in every direction. The club's dancers fled as White Fang fired from the walkway. The Knights jumped to the floor below. Junior's henchmen ran forward to engage them with swords and axes. Others turned on Aurum and the others.

Yang, Ruby, Sun and Blake deflected all the shots aimed for them, but Aurum was left out in the open. Luckily no one seemed to aiming for him but that would probably change really soon. Aurum climbed up and into the only cover around. Tumbling behind the bar, Aurum knelt and put his good hand on his hatchet.

CLICK.

Aurum instinctively whipped out his hatchet, whirled around, and sent it axe head first into the bartender's chest. The man dropped his pistol that had been aimed at Aurum's head and collapsed.

Bullets whizzed over the bar while Aurum grabbed his other hatchet, which took a moment to do with his good arm. Keeping low, Aurum scooted over to the bartender as best as his braced leg would let him.

The axe had busted a few ribs, but had missed the man's vital organs. Aurum yanked the weapon free, and grabbed a rag from the bar. Drops of blood speckled Aurum's face, but he ignored them and wrapped the rag around the wound as best he could. The bartender tried to fight him, but Aurum grasped his hand and pressed it against the rag.

"Stay down," Aurum said, repeating Yang's words. "And put some pressure on that."

The bartender nodded weakly. Aurum grasped the man's pistol. With his broken arm, he wouldn't be able to use his hatchets; the heavy pistol would have to do. Keeping the gun at the ready, Aurum peeked over the bar.

The Knights had forced Junior's Henchmen back with the help of White Fang fire from above. What remained of Junior's men had fallen back behind cover where they were pinned down by Ciara's sniper rifle.

Blake and Sun were holding off the Junior's two girls on the dance floor, both sides moving so quick it was impossible for any of the other combatants to shoot them. The girl in white fought viciously with her sharpened heels while her sister slashed away with her red claws.

Ruby sniped at the White Fang with her giant red scythe while Yang ran around, her hair literally glowing yellow, taking on the Knights. The Knights had switched their miniguns for long sword arms, which clashed against Yang's gauntlets.

Junior had charged right into the fray, knocking aside Knights with his giant bat. He seemed to be keeping some distance from Yang, having learned his lesson not to mess with her.

Seeing some of the White Fang begin to divert their fire on Yang, Aurum brought his pistol up and fired. The recoil of the weapon slapped his hand up, causing the shot to go wide. Despite what was in the movies, firing a pistol one handed was extremely difficult.

Gritting his teeth, Aurum tried again, this time steading his arm on the counter and bracing for the shot. The next bullet was a closer miss, forcing the White Fang member he'd been aiming for to duck down behind the railing.

Ruby hit the guy on her next shot.

"Aurum!" she called. "Cover me!"

Ruby aimed her scythe at the floor and fired. The recoil thrust her forward, up towards the walkway. Ruby fired twice more, each shot speeding her along.

Aurum emptied his gun on the White Fang as Ruby landed. She immediately began slashing, taking on the White Fang with vengeance.

Ciara turned on her new opponent, switching her own sniper rifle to its closer corners counterpart, its blade sliding into place.

Ruby was not a match for Ciara, Aurum realized, especially when Ciara had backup. Aurum raised his gun to help even the odds, but it nothing happened. He pulled the trigger multiple times, but only got an empty clicking sound.

Aurum slid the empty magazine out and rounded on the bartender. "Where do you keep some extra ammo?"

The bartender glared at him. Keeping one hand on his wound, the man slipped a knife free from his boot.

Aurum was on him before he could raise the blade.

"Let's try that again." Aurum knocked the knife aside and raised a hatchet menacingly. "Where's the ammo?"

The bartender didn't talk, but his eyes darted quickly to a cabinet and back to the hatchet.

"Try something like that again," Aurum kicked the knife further away, "and you'll see what I can do with both hatchets."

"You've only got one arm," the bartender grunted.

"That's all I will need." Aurum held his gaze for a second before scrambling over to the cabinet.

Inside were rows of magazines, two pistols, a sword, and a sawed off shotgun. Aurum grabbed two magazines, one of them with a red strip down the side. He was not sure what the red stripe meant, but he slid it into the pistol anyway and cocked it.

There was a thud as the DJ fell from his perch: one of the Knights had nailed him right in the chest with their miniguns. Aurum forgot about Ruby as the Knight turned on Yang. HE was about to pull the trigger when BAM!

One of the two girls from the dance floor crashed into the bar. She was the one dressed in white who fought with her heels. The girl looked like she had been very attractive before, but not after the fight. Her white dress was torn in places, and scratches decorated every bit of previously flawless skin. In just a few hours she was going to be covered in bruises.

Aurum turned back to the Knight, but Yang had already taken it out. Aurum's smile of relief was stopped cold when Ruby screamed.

Ciara had sent her flying off the balcony. Ruby fell to the dance floor, where Blake and Sun were finishing off the girl with claws. The remaining four White Fang trained their weapons on the trio as Junior's henchmen followed suit.

"Pardon me," Aurum shouted, swinging his legs over the counter as he used the girl in white's head to steady himself. She shoved him off with a scowl.

Limping forward as fast as his braced legs would allow him, Aurum fired up at the White Fang: Blake and Sun could deal with Junior's henchmen. Ruby was not going to get hurt because he had been distracted from covering her.

Aurum missed again, but he discovered why the magazine had a red strip on it. The bullet was packed with dust, causing it caused an explosion of flames to erupt from where it hit the wall, knocking the nearest White Fang member off the walkway.

Aurum continued to fire, the dust bullets making up for his poor aim. The White Fang literally went down in flames. Multiple members were thrown from the walkway by the explosions, Junior's remaining henchmen finishing them off where they landed. Ciara practically danced through the explosions with ease. She shouted something that was lost to Aurum in the explosions, but the Knights heard her.

They all forgot about Yang and Junior, instead all turning on Aurum. Their arms all morphed into swords in unison. Glowing red faceplates connected with fearful brown eyes from across the room.

And then the Knights charged.

Aurum switched out the empty dust magazine for the regular one. The Knights weaved through his bullets, ducking and rolling aside while others closed in for the kill.

The nearest one bounded up the steps from the dance floor, leaping high on the last one. It cocked its sword arm back as it plummeted towards Aurum.

Aurum raised the pistol and fired two shots off desperately. One glanced off Knights armor plating. The other nailed it straight in the neck, severing it. Aurum sidestepped the metallic corpse, sparks and wires flying from it.

The steps creaked as more Knights dashed forward.

"Need some help?"

Sun leapt over the Knights, Blake right behind him. Sun broke his bo staff apart, splitting it into chain linked shotguns in the form of nunchakus. He whirled them in tight circles, firing the guns in rapid succession and mowing down the White Fang.

Blake's sword blade collapsed as she switched to pistol form. She picked off some of the Knights from behind Sun.

Some of the Knights still got past the two of them. Aurum took three of them down with his pistol but as he aimed at the fourth, his gun clicked empty.

Aurum blocked the killing stroke with the pistol only to get pinned to the floor. The Knight raised its other arm and brought the blade down.

Aurum dropped the pistol, whipped out a hatchet, and hooked the blade an inch from his throat. Combining the strength of his casted arm with his good one, Aurum pulled the blade off course, embedding the Knight's arm in the floor neck to his head.

The Knight brought its other arm up, only to have it blown clear off.

"Excuse me." Yang lowered her gauntlet and got into a boxer stance. "Could you get away from my friend?"

The Knight stared at her, the cold red faceplate studying the furious red ones. Aurum buried his hatchet into the Knight's visor. The red light dimmed, still holding the gaze of the organic ones.

"Thanks," Aurum grunted. He pushed the dead Knight off of him.

"Any time," Yang said with a wink.

Sun and Blake were still holding off the remaining Knights. Junior ran towards them and Yang raised a gauntlet. He ignored her, instead dropping to a knee in front of Sun. His bat morphed into a missile launcher. Junior aimed it towards the dance floor and fired. Six rockets raced off, targeting and eliminating the last of the Knights, sending metal parts flying.

Ciara laughed from the walkway. She jumped to the dance floor and kicked aside a Knight's decapitated head.

Junior fired another round, this one aimed entirely at Ciara. She ducked one, sliced two of the rockets from the air, and jumped over the last three. The resulting explosions silhouetted her form as she waited for their next move.

Ruby took this as her time to reenter the fight. She came flying in screaming, swinging her scythe around for round two with Ciara.

Ruby went wild, twirling her giant scythe with enormous speeds. She moved unnaturally fast, her scythe little more than a blur. Ciara couldn't get within the Ruby's guard, instead having to try and parry the weapon while waiting for her opening. Her chance never came as Ruby attacked with even greater impossible speeds. Her cloak whipped around furiously, shedding what appeared to be large amounts of rose petals all over the ground.

Ciara deflected another of Ruby's blows, forcing the girl back. Ciara moved to counterattack, but froze as Blake, Sun, and Yang lined up beside their friend. Junior had reloaded his missile launched and had it trained on her from the stairs.

"Well, Goldie, it looks like your friends are quite strong," Ciara said, relaxing her stance. The Grimm mask turned to stare at Aurum as he walked to the top of the stairs. Aurum clutched his hatchet tightly at his side. "This is the first mission I've ever failed, so you five should be honored."

"You're coming with us." Aurum pointed his hatchet at her. "I have some friends who would like to speak with you."

Ciara chuckled. "You mean the two Huntsmen? No, it's not time yet for that. Even if you tell them my name, they still won't be able to catch me."

She pulled out a small vial and threw it at the group. Ruby reacted first and shot it from the air, causing a giant cloud of black smoke to burst free.

Aurum recognized the substance. It was the powder Ciara had used to knock him out before, but in a gaseous form. "Run!"

The four junior Huntsmen and Huntress did just that. They dashed up the stairs, Yang only pausing to fire an explosive round at the girl on the dance floor with the red claws. It wouldn't be till later that Aurum would learn that Yang's shot thrust the girl out of the gas cloud, saving her life.

Junior wasn't quick enough to react. He turned to run but got a lungful of the toxin. He collapsed on the steps, the gas washing over his body.

Ruby was the first to reach the bar, diving behind it with Blake right behind her. Yang helped Aurum over and fell in next to him. Sun landed on the bartender, who yelped in equal parts surprise and pain.

The gas reached the top of the stairs, trickled over and dissipated. The six of them peeked over the bar. Robot parts were strewn all over the club with a fair amount of rose petals mixed in. Junior's henchmen lay about all over the place while the bodies of the White Fang were draped either on the walkway or beneath it.

"Well this sucks," Sun said. "Look at this mess and we didn't even catch Ciara."

"We do know who she is though," Ruby pointed out brightly, "so mission accomplished."

"But she did say that wouldn't help us." Yang sighed. Aurum was very aware of how close she was: the two of them almost on top of each other. "What I want to know is how many of those Knights the White Fang has."

She got up and offered Aurum a hand.

"Looks like Atlas is having a major security breech," Blake said. "First the White Fang steal one of their Paladin Mech suits, now they have their old robots as well."

"Yeah," Ruby agreed. "Whoever the White Fang is working with must be really powerful to steal all this under Atlas' nose."

"I'll let my team know about it later," Aurum said. "The thing is, it will be hard to tell them what we found out without getting asked questions on how we did it."

"We can worry about that later." Yang grinned. "Right now, I just want to go to bed."

"Hear, hear," Sun agreed.


	9. Chapter 9

**This will be the shortest chapter of the story for sure. It was originally the second half of chapter 8, but I decided it would be better as it's own separate chapter.**

 **Also, we have now caught up on all of the chapters I have fully written and reviewed. I'm going to continue this story and keep writing it as quickly as I can while still keeping it good. We're about halfway through the story, so I'll upload more chapters as they're done. I'm planning on finishing the story completely before RWBY Volume 4 starts. Kind of ambitious but lets see if I can make it happen.**

 **Thanks for all of the feedback and I'll hopefully have something up for you all soon.**

Chapter 9

Aurum sent Silvia a message once they got back to Beacon. He told her Ciara and Leo's full names, but made sure to include that the White Fang had somehow gotten their hands on Atlas equipment. He tried to play it off as something he had heard from students at Beacon.

Silvia responded ten seconds later by calling his Scroll. As Aurum clicked the "Accept Call" icon, alarm bells rang in his head: Silvia knew something was up.

"Hey Silvia," he said, sitting down on his bed. Team ASSH's assigned dorm room seemed unnaturally quiet without the rest of the team there. "What's up?"

"Aurum, what the hell happened?" Silvia sounded like she was in a parade of emergency vehicles. "What did you do?"

"Didn't you see my message? I've been at Beacon resting. I heard some students talking and thought you might-"

"Aurum, I'm at a dance club that looks like a bomb was dropped on the dance floor. Tons of people are hurt, fifty Atlas robots have been destroyed, and there's rose petals all over the floor. I know you had something to do with this."

"What?" Aurum tried to feign surprise. "That sounds pretty crazy. What happened?"

"Aurum, cut the crap." Never had he heard Silvia this mad. "You promised me you would take it easy."

"And I did-"

"Don't lie to me." Was her voice trembling? "What were you thinking? The doctors said you shouldn't even be on your feet for too long."

Aurum sighed. Time to come clean. "Look, we just went for information. We didn't know that the freaking White Fang would attack."

"We?"

"Ruby, Sun, Blake, Yang and I went to ask about Ciara, the lady who attacked me."

"Well, that explains the rose petals." Silvia had seen Ruby fight with before. "Why would you even go here?"

"Yang said the club owner could help us." Aurum got defensive when Silvia snorted. "And he did. He told us everything he knew."

"Was that before or after his goons attacked you? There's a man here who was rushed to the hospital with a chest wound that I know was from your hatchet."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"He'll be fine, but that's not the point." Aurum heard someone say something to Silvia. He waited a few moments.

"Look, we got you some seriously good information," Aurum insisted. "What do Loden and Ivy think of what we found out?"

"They are very busy at the moment with the mess you've made," Silvia snapped. "I admit the information is good, but why couldn't you have let us interrogate the club owner?"

Aurum was silent for a moment. "I didn't think about that."

"Right, you didn't think. Instead you threw caution to the winds and just acted on impulse, like usual." There was a pause. "Professor Ozpin himself said your aura couldn't shield you right now."

"You talked with Ozpin?" Why was the headmaster of Beacon taking such an interest in him?

"He visited us this morning. He told us that we will need to keep an eye on you." Silvia took a deep breath. "Aurum, you could have died."

"Isn't that part of our job?" Aurum demanded. He didn't need Silvia or the rest of the team worrying about him. Didn't he just prove today that he could take care of himself?

"We are training to go out and battle monsters," Aurum continued hotly. "There's always a chance we'll die. It's part of our job."

"But you're not a Huntsmen yet," Silvia nearly cried into the Scroll. "You know what happened to Loden and Ivy's team?"

She didn't wait for a reply. "They lost a member on a mission. Her name was Scarlet. Their other member left the team shortly after. Loden and Ivy still feel the pain of Scarlet's loss. I don't want our team to go through that and lose someone, especially you."

"Why me?"

"Because you're our leader," Silvia said a little too quickly. "Slate, Henna and I talked and we've agreed to not tell Ozpin about this only if you stay at Beacon. This Ciara lady is after you now. Beacon is the safest place in Remnant. Henna has already asked other Haven kids to make sure you don't leave. Until we get back, you're not to leave school."

"So what, I'm a prisoner now?" Aurum nearly shouted. He didn't remember getting to his feet but he felt the sudden urge to throw his Scroll against the wall. What was his team doing? Did he not just prove he could look after himself? Aurum hadn't planned on fighting the White Fang. That wasn't his fault. Plus, he had been with Yang, Sun, Ruby, and Blake. He had only met them a few weeks ago, excluding Sun, and he trusted them. Aurum was safe with them.

"That's not what we're doing," Silvia insisted. "We all just want you to be safe. We are a team. We look out for each other."

"Really? Because it seems like you three have decided all of Team ASSH's decisions recently," Aurum snapped. "I'm the team leader. Don't I have a say in this?"

"Aurum, I'm sorry but please," Silvia pleaded, "just listen to us this time. If you won't stay there for the team and you won't listen to me, please do it for your family."

"My family?" Aurum had not expected Silvia to bring them up.

"Before we left Mistral," Silvia said, "your mother asked me to keep you safe. I know she supports you training to be a Huntsman, but your mother really worries about you."

When Aurum didn't say anything, Silvia continued.

"Your brother, Nave, he really idolizes you. Your mother is allowing him to go to Haven next year. If you were killed, imagine what she would feel knowing another son was also going to try and be a Huntsman like you."

"That's not fair," Aurum murmured. Since his father had left them, Aurum had looked after his mother, brother, and little sisters. He loved them all and never wanted them hurt. For Silvia to use them against him was below the belt.

"I'm sorry but if it's what it takes to keep you in Beacon, then I don't care." Silvia sighed. "Look, I have to go but we'll try to catch these people as quickly as we can. Henna reckons we'll be back in time for the dance."

Aurum sank back onto his bed. He had been looking forward to the dance, getting to hang with his teammates and possibly take Yang as his date. But now that his team was working behind his back, he dreaded spending time with them.

"Right," Aurum said with a groan. He ran his hand through his hair. "I'll see you guys later then."

"Aurum, I-"

Aurum ended the call, tossing his phone onto another bed. He closed his eyes and waited for sleep. But feelings of betrayal delayed its sweet relief till long into the night.


	10. Chapter 10

**Back from beyond everyone. I owe all of you an apology from not posting anything for the past two months. School's been hectic but I've been able to keep adding to the story. It is still not entirely finished but I'm getting there. I'm going to post a new chapter every week (gives me time to work on the others). I'll probably post them the days RWBY episodes are released, meaning Sundays because I don't subscribe to get to see them a day early.**

 **Speaking of RWBY, I've greatly enjoyed the new season. So far the plot has been great. My head is starting to think of ways for this story to interlink with Volume 4 but I won't get to far ahead of myself. I'll stay focused on finishing this story, which we've luckily still have a ways to go yet. I'm starting to map out the final chapters, which will take place in Volume 3 of the series.**

 **Also, I'm going to be making some revisions to earlier chapters. After getting some messages about the name of Aurum's team, I've decided we rearrange some of the letters. Team ASSH will become Team ASHS, which looks a lot better.**

 **Since it's been awhile, might as well repeat some things: OCs are mine, RWBY is Roosterteeths. Nice and simple way to keep this fanfic legit.** **Sorry once again for taking this long. Read, hopefully enjoy, and review!**

Chapter 10

After the events of last night, Aurum was eventually able to fall into a dreamless sleep. The sunlight breaking through the window woke him earlier than he would have desired. Aurum was just rolled over and keep sleeping but not before wishing he had remembered to closed the drapes before going to bed.

It wasn't until noon that Aurum fully awoke. He lay in bed for a long time after waking, thoughts of last night rolling through his head. So much had happened in the last 24 hours but Aurum kept coming back to what Silvia had said.

His team was working behind his back, making calls without asking for his opinion. Wasn't he elected team leader? Shouldn't he have a say in any of this?

Why couldn't they see Aurum hadn't planned on fighting the White Fang last night? He had gone with Yang, Ruby, Sun and Blake just to talk with Junior. None of them had wanted to get into a fight, much less one with both the White Fang and Junior's men. Sure, last night's events had spiraled out of control but none of that was Aurum's fault. And as far as he saw it, Aurum had been very safe with Yang, Ruby, Sun and Blake. They had watched out for him. If Aurum could trust them, why couldn't his team?

And now Aurum's team was having the other Haven students make sure he would stay in Beacon. Like they expected Aurum to go running back out for more trouble. He actually was planning on staying at Beacon now that Ciara was after him, so for his team to make sure he stayed there was insulting. How stupid did they think he was? He didn't need the other students to watch him.

Aurum threw off the covers and sat up.

Why did it feel like he wasn't really a part of his own team anymore?

Aurum rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. He glanced in the mirror and wished he hadn't; a zombie with horrible bedhead stared back at him. The shadows under Aurum's eyes rivaled Blake's. There were red lines across the right side of his face from pressing it into the sheets.

Aurum grabbed a comb and gave his hair a lazy swipe. The golden mess just sprang back into place.

He sighed and headed for the showers.

Twenty minutes later, Aurum was back sitting on his bed. His hoodie was lying on the floor; Aurum hadn't felt like fighting his arm through the sleeve. After a fierce struggle to put his sprained leg into pants, Aurum gave up. He slipped into a t-shirt and shorts. His black jacket lay next to him. Aurum stared ahead, running his hands over the leather material.

Right before Aurum had left for Haven, his siblings had given him this jacket. It wasn't anything really special except that the three of them had pooled all their money to buy it. The jacket hadn't been cheap and Aurum had at first tried to get them to return it, but his little sisters insisted while his brother Nave just smiled. Aurum wore the jacket along with a promise that he would visit them as often as he could. Aurum hadn't seen his family since the winter holidays four months ago. He had called them last week. His brother hadn't said anything about going to Haven. Nave probably meant for it to be a surprise for Aurum.

Aurum grabbed the jacket and draped it over his lap.

Silvia had no right to bring up his family like that. As Aurum was tired of saying, he hadn't planned on running into trouble and he still wasn't. Bringing in his family had not only been uncalled for, it was also unnecessary.

Aurum folded up the jacket and laid it back on the bed. He fumbled for a few moments to find his Scroll and then remembered he had chucked it onto Slate's bed last night.

Aurum grabbed it and found two messages waiting for him. One was from Yang, wondering if he was up yet. And the other…

Aurum's breath caught.

It was from Professor Ozpin.

What did he want? Did he know about what had happened last night? Did Aurum's teammates break their word and tell Ozpin anyway?

Aurum frantically read the message.

The Headmaster's message asked for him to come meet with him today at two, a half hour from now.

"What does he want with me?" Aurum muttered but he already knew the answer. Somehow, whether his teammates told him or not, Ozpin had found out about last night. There was no other explanation: the headmaster of Beacon didn't meet with students unless it was very important.

Aurum nervously ran his finger through his hair. Ozpin couldn't expel him, right?

"Course not," Aurum reassured himself. "I'm not in his school. But…"

The Tournament. Ozpin could refuse to let him compete. His teammates would be disqualified since they wouldn't have a fourth member. If they had reported Aurum, then they had basically signed off on not competing.

"Calm down. You don't know why he wants to meet with you." But Aurum was sure he was right. Surely the news had reported the fight in Junior's club. Unless the government had covered that up as well so that the people wouldn't worry.

 _Knock-knock._

Wondering who would want to see him, Aurum walked over and opened the door.

"Hey, what's up?" Yang asked. For someone who had been fighting for her life last night, Yang seemed to be in a great mood. Not for the first time did Aurum wonder if Team RWBY did stuff like that all the time.

"Quite a bit actually." Aurum gestured for her to come in. Despite all his worries, he couldn't help but smile as Yang walked past. She was the type of girl who could brighten any room.

Yang sat down on Silvia's bed and smiled back. She was dressed in her school uniform: red plaid skirt, black stockings, black jacket and a white shirt.

"I just got done with classes for the day," she explained. Aurum caught himself staring and mentally slapped himself. Yang would definitely punch him if she caught him peeking glances at her.

"So, what's going on?" Yang asked.

"Professor Ozpin sent me a message." Aurum took a seat across from her on his bed. "He wants to meet with me at two."

"Did he say what he wants to talk about?"

"No. Do you think he knows about last night?"

"If he does, don't worry about it." Yang stretched and laid back, arms behind her head. "Ozpin isn't really the punishing type. Blake, Sun and Ruby once took on a whole ton of White Fang down at the shipping yards and he didn't expel them."

"He could disqualify me from the Tournament," Aurum pointed out.

Yang thought that over for a few seconds.

"Yeah, he could. But he probably doesn't even know about last night. It wasn't on the news and who would've told him?"

"Uh, the cops?"

"They'll see it as just another White Fang attack, nothing out of the ordinary. The police wouldn't bother him with this."

"Okay, well my teammates threatened to tell him."

Yang propped herself up on her elbows. "What?"

"They think that Ciara is after me now, so they said if I didn't stay at Beacon then they would tell Ozpin."

"All because of last night?" Yang asked. "It wasn't like we were looking for that fight."

"Exactly."

"And why would you leave Beacon if Ciara is after you? Beacon is the safest place on earth. What?"

Aurum tried to erase the grin from his face but he couldn't: Yang understood exactly what his teammates couldn't.

"Sorry, it's just that that's what I told my team."

"And did they listen?"

"No."

"Good thing those losers are gone then. They don't sound like fun at all," Yang said brightly. "Are you doing anything after this meeting?"

"No. Well…"

"What?"

Like many great ideas, Aurum had gotten one while he was showering earlier. Well, actually he had had the idea for a while now. It wasn't until this morning that Aurum had decided he wanted to go through with it.

"Look, this may sound pretty stupid and not very smart when we've got the tournament coming up."

"What is it?" Yang sat up and looked Aurum in the eye.

"I was…" Aurum took a deep breath. Might as well force it out.

"I-wanted-to-remake-my-weapons," he said quickly in one breath. He waited for Yang to tell him that that was a stupid idea, that he should stick with the weapons he had trained with, that it would be stupid to get new weapons right before the tournament.

Instead, she grinned.

"Really? That's a great idea!"

"You think so?"

"Yeah. No offense," Yang glanced at the hatchets, which were set out on Aurum's dresser, "but your hatchets are kind of outdated. Sure, you're good with them in close quarters but in a fight against someone like Ciara? You wouldn't be able to get close enough."

Once again, Yang thoughts mirrored Aurum's. Except for taking out the bartender, Aurum had been practically useless last night until he switched out his hatchets for the pistol. Granted, he had been injured but even when he was not hurt, he had seen his hatchet limitations when Ciara attacked him and Loden in Acribus Quarter.

"So, what were you thinking of doing to your hatchets?" Yang asked.

"I'm not really sure yet," Aurum admitted. "It would be nice to add a ranged feature to them. Maybe also a way to keep them from being knocked out of hands."

"Hmm…" Yang leaned back and closed her eyes in thought. "Well, you could add both of those but you would have to remake a lot of the hatchet. So if you're okay with that-"

"I am," Aurum said.

"Then why don't we meet up after you talk with Ozpin? I can show you where the Forge is and could help out if you want."

"Really?" It felt like butterflies had burst into flight in Aurum's stomach. Yang wanted to help him?

"If that's okay with you."

"No, that's fine with me. Great even. But, uh, do you know where Ozpin's office is?"

Twenty minutes and two wrong turns later, Aurum was in the elevator to Ozpin's office. Ozpin's secretary had been a little miffed that Aurum was a few minutes late but Aurum didn't care. If he was late because he was busy talking with Yang, so be it.

 _Ping._

The doors slide apart and Aurum stepped into the headmaster's circular office. Walls wrapped around with pillars supporting the glass ceiling overhead. Large gears revolved behind the glass, their purpose not entirely known to Aurum. Sunlight danced between them, illuminating the office.

"Ah, Mr. Aureate. Please, come in."

Ozpin turned from the large semi-circular window he had been looking out of. Leaning his cane against his curved desk, he took a seat in a metallic chair that didn't look remotely comfortable.

"Professor Ozpin, sir." Aurum stood awkwardly in front of Ozpin's desk. The headmaster didn't have any chairs besides the one he was in. Aurum had a feeling this was done on purpose.

The headmaster smiled to himself as he poured coffee into his mug. Setting the pot back on his desk next to an empty cup, Ozpin glanced up at Aurum.

"I trust you are feeling well?" he asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yes sir," Aurum replied. Ozpin gave him a funny look, his gaze skimming over Aurum's cast and braced neg. "Well, as well as I can be right now."

"I am glad to hear that. Injuries like yours usually happen after school, but if you rest and don't exert yourself, I believe you should make a full recovery in no time."

"Of course, sir."

"I trust you have been resting?"

"Yes sir," Aurum lied.

Ozpin stared at him for a few seconds, waiting. What for, Aurum wasn't sure. Was Ozpin going to ask about last night?

"Sir, is something the matter?"

"Not at all." Ozpin took another sip before setting his mug down. He leaned forward and clasp his hands under his chin, still staring at Aurum intently. "Tell me, Mr. Aureate, how is your relationship with your teammates? I know this must be difficult for you not to be with them."

"Actually sir, I needed a little bit of a break from them." As the headmaster of hundreds of students, surely Ozpin would understand. "I spend a lot of time with them but I do need some time to myself. Too much of a good thing, you know?"

"Indeed," Ozpin said with a knowing smile. "But you will not always be injured and when you are not, you cannot afford breaks like this. You are their leader."

"I am not so sure about that, sir."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they have started going behind my back, making decisions without talking with me."

"And what sort of decisions are they making?"

"They're making sure I stay at Beacon," Aurum answered without thinking. When Ozpin nodded in thought, Aurum knew he had said too much.

"And why would they be doing that? Surely you have not given them any reason to not trust you."

"No, of course not."

"I see." Ozpin brought his clasped hands closer to his face. "Mr. Aureate, whether they make the decisions for you or not, you are your team's leader. If they are needing to make calls to ensure you stay at Beacon, you should examine your actions and find out what has them worried."

"I haven't done anything to worry them," Aurum insisted. "They are just overreacting."

"Overreacting to what?"

He knows something, Aurum realized. But if he knew about last night, why beat around the bush?

"Overreacting to nothing," Aurum said aloud.

"Very well then." Ozpin leaned back and gestured with a hand to the window. The mirth that was usually in the headmaster's eye was gone, replaced with a cold stare.

"Aurum," he said seriously. "Although I am the headmaster of this academy, know that I am also a Huntsman. It is my sworn duty to protect the people out there, a duty I take very seriously. Is there anything you would like to tell me?"

Aurum considered telling him everything, all about what had happened since he left the hospital yesterday morning. Ozpin seemed reasonable. He would understand that Aurum hadn't planned on fighting the White Fang last night.

But if Aurum told him all that, Yang and the others would be in trouble. They would have to explain why they were there and what they were doing. Judging from what Aurum had gathered, Team RWBY was up to something important dealing with the White Fang. He couldn't expose them.

"No sir," he muttered. It didn't feel right not telling Ozpin everything but Aurum couldn't get his friends in trouble.

"Very well," Ozpin repeated, seemingly staring into Aurum's soul. "If you have nothing else to say, then you are dismissed Mr. Aureate."

"Thank you sir," Aurum said, but the headmaster didn't acknowledge him. Ozpin had gotten up and was staring out the window, leaning on his cane.

Aurum turned, crossed the room and pushed the button to one of the elevators.

The doors opened smoothly and quietly. Glynda Goodwitch stood framed in the doorway, her blonde hair pulled back in its typical bun. The teacher gave Aurum a quizzical glance but moved briskly past him, her purple and black cape swishing while her boots clicked against the hard floor.

"Aurum."

Aurum turned in the elevator.

Ozpin stood looking back at him, mug in one hand, his cane in the other. Glynda stood at the headmaster's desk, also watching Aurum. Had she heard their discussion? Did she know about last night?

"If you need to speak with me at any time," Ozpin said, his complexion softening. "Please, do not hesitate to ask."

The elevator doors slide shut. That was the first and last time Aurum would ever speak with Professor Ozpin.


	11. Chapter 11

**Whelp, I'm back. Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it!**

 **Anyway, in this chapter I introduce a new part of Beacon. I've always wondered where Beacon students go if they need to fix their weapons or make custom bullets. So I came up with the Forge. It was awesome coming up with the place so I hope you enjoy it.**

Chapter 11

"So you're sure Ozpin doesn't know about last night?" Yang asked Aurum for the third time.

The two of them were walking the halls of Beacon, Yang leading the way to the school forge. She had been waiting for Aurum outside of Ozpin's office. Naturally, he had told Yang everything but she still didn't seem convinced.

"He didn't bring up last night. All he asked about was how I was feeling, how my team is doing, and if there was anything I wanted to tell him." Aurum ducked around three students in Haven uniforms: a girl with emerald hair, a gray-haired guy, and some moody dark haired girl. "Look, if Ozpin knew anything he would've asked more direct questions."

"Maybe," Yang said, mulling it over. "Ozpin has always been an odd case. He does things for weird reasons. He let Ruby into Beacon because he was impressed with how she took down a group of thugs."

"Really?" Aurum said absentmindedly. He had turned his head to get a better look at the three Haven students. None of them looked familiar.

"Yeah. He probably had another reason for letting her in but no one knows what it could be." Yang glanced at Aurum. "Are you even listening?"

"Do you know those three?" Aurum gestured at the students as they turned the corner. The gray-haired guy looked back and caught Aurum's eye. He flashed Aurum a wolfish grin before following his friends.

"Oh, that's Emerald and Mercury. Don't know who the other girl was." Yang stopped and peered at Aurum. "You don't know who they are? They go to your school after all."

"Never seen them." Aurum thought back to training back in Mistral's academy. He had met a lot of people in the two years he had been at Haven but couldn't recall those three. "Are you sure they go to Haven?"

"Aurum, they were wearing your uniform. Of course they go to Haven. You probably just haven't had any classes with them."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Aurum was not fully convinced: how could he be at a school for two years and not recognize those three? Maybe they were only first years but still. He would have seen them around Haven sometime over the last year.

Then again, they had been wearing Haven uniforms and Haven wasn't exactly a small school. Maybe he would ask Silvia about it later. Not that it mattered, but Aurum was just curious.

"The forge is just up these stairs," Yang said. "I hope you don't mind, but I told my teammates I would be helping you with rebuilding your hatchets."

"Why should I mind?" Aurum huffed as he followed Yang up the stairs two at a time. His sprained legs ached from all this walking.

"Well…" Yang began, pushing open the doors to the Forge.

"EEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!" A red blur grabbed Aurum's bad arm, pulling him in, despite his cries of pain. Aurum tripped forward, falling on his face.

Aurum tried to see who had just assaulted him.

"Hi," Ruby said, squatting down with her face inches from Aurum's own. He scrambled away, cursing.

Ruby followed him, eyes brimming with excitement.

"Who's ready to make a weapon?" she squealed.

Beacon's forge was simply breathtaking. It was located in one of Beacon's many towers. The center of the tower was hollow, letting natural light shine down from the skylight at the top. For the students who used the forge at night, long wires with orange lights were suspended from the ceiling. A staircase wrapped itself around the open space, with two glass doors set on the many landings, all leading to a workspace.

Aurum ran his hand over the tan brick walls as he, Yang, and Ruby ascended the staircase. He had been assigned a workstation towards the top of the tower. Ruby had insisted they not use one of the elevators. Yang had grumbled at this but Aurum was glad Ruby forced them to take the stairs. Most the students working at the forge left their doors open so Aurum got to look in on what they were working on. The stairwell echoed with the sounds of students hammering and cutting metal. Many were repairing their personal weapons, but Aurum saw a few forging entirely new weapons from scratch. The variety in what they were making amazed Aurum: assorted dust whips, a flame thrower that shot ice, dual arm miniguns, and exploding throwing knives. In one workspace, a student was warily lining up bullets on a table, carefully marking each with a different dust type.

"Hey, there's Velvet's workstation!" Ruby called out on the seventh landing. She ran up to one of the doors and peered in. "Aw… She took her project with her."

"Velvet's a part of Team CFVY," Yang explained. "They're still out on their mission."

"They were the ones who were supposed to plan the dance, right?"

"Right. I'm surprised they're not back by now." Yang shook her head. "I'm sure they're fine though. Team CFVY are the best fighters at Beacon."

"Except no one knows what Velvet's weapon is," Ruby pouted as they kept walking. "She's always her working on it but she won't show me. It's probably something super cool."

"Here we are," Aurum said a few minutes later. "Floor thirteen."

He slipped his key into his assigned workstation to the right of the elevator. As he held the glass door open for the girls, the station's lights faded on.

Aurum's breath caught in his throat. "This place is amazing."

The outside wall was tinted black but lightened into see-through glass once Aurum had opened the door. One wall was covered in cabinets and cubby holes while another was devoted to hanging an expansive variety of tools from. The third wall had a large dumbwaiter set into it and a giant screen already hooked up to a computer.

Two tables were placed in the center of the room, rolling chairs placed at both. The one closest to the door had two trays laid into it: one holding water and another holding glowing orange crystals. The other table was solid black, nothing inlaid in it except for a series of buttons on the side.

"I wouldn't touch those," Yang cautioned Aurum, who had reached for the tray with orange crystals. "They're fire dust crystals."

Aurum hastily withdrew his hand.

"What are they for?" he asked.

"In the old days, forges would have a giant furnace to melt metal," Ruby explained, jumping up to sit on the other table. "Now we have those. The dust crystals can be set to whatever temperature you need."

"That's pretty neat."

"If you think that's cool, check this out." Yang motioned Aurum to the table Ruby was sitting on. She placed her palm down flat on the surface.

The table immediately lit up, blue holographic lines flickering across the surface until setting into a grid pattern. Yang pulled her hand up in a grasping motion and the lines followed, making a three-dimensional box.

"That's awesome," Aurum admitted as Yang brought the lines back down onto the surface by bringing her hand back down flat. "But isn't it risky having technology like that where kids make weapons?"

"Nope," Ruby said, rapping the table with her knuckles. "This thing is indestructible. You can hammer away at it and it won't break. Nora once tried breaking one of these with her hammer."

"What happened?" Aurum remembered Nora's explosive personality.

Ruby shook her head. "Not even a scratch."

"Here, hand me your hatchets," Yang said.

Aurum pulled the weapons from his belt ane hesitated. This was it. Did he really want to change Gelwaz's hatchets? They were the old huntsman's last gift, the last bit that Aurum still had of him.

Aurum sighed, placing the hatchets in Yang's waiting hands.

She placed the weapons on the table and tapped the surface. A blue line ran under them, like one of those really old photocopiers Aurum had seen back in slums of Mistral.

"We won't be needing these for now," Yang said, handing back the hatchets. In their place on the table was a blue holographic replica. "We can work the design on this model until we're ready to re-forge your hatchets into it."

"What were you thinking of changing?" Ruby asked, flicking the holographic hatchets to make them spin.

"Well." Aurum set the real hatchets down on the other table, next to the water tub. "I was thinking of adding a ranged function. Some form of gun or projectile launcher. Also, it would be nice if we could put something on my hatchets so I won't lose them in a fight."

"Hmm…" Yang scratched her chin. "Not sure about the gun part but that second one we could do really easily."

Ruby clapped her hands. "What if we added something like what Blake has on Gamble Shroud?"

"Doesn't she have ribbons attached to the hilt?" Aurum thought back to seeing Blake fight in Junior's club. Her main collapsible sword had ribbons tied to the hilt, allowing Blake to throw it and pull herself around the battlefield with it.

"You don't have to do ribbons if you don't want too," Ruby pointed out.

"Yeah, I'd prefer something else."

Yang grinned. "Ribbons aren't macho enough for you?"

"I was thinking of something a little more durable," Aurum said. "A material that could take a hit. Got any ideas?"

"Maybe chain links?" Ruby suggested. "That'd be pretty cool."

"Yeah, but they would have to be tiny links so the chains don't clink together loudly," Yang said. "Otherwise everyone will here you coming."

Yang tapped the table and scrolled through a list of materials. Selecting one, she dragged it onto the hologram. Twin chains sprung from the ends of the hatchets, snaking around the table top.

"How long were you thinking?" Yang asked.

"Long enough that I can throw them."

"Then you are going to need some type of holder for your extra chain." Yang smiled. "Trust me, Blake might look like she's got it together in combat, but I've seen how long it takes to untangled her ribbons. You'll want something to hold the slack."

"That'll be easy enough to make." Ruby jumped down from the table and studied the hologram. "But as for adding a gun, that's going to take a lot longer."

"Then we might as well get started," Yang said brightly.

Aurum spent the rest of the afternoon in the forge working with the sisters. Coming up with a new design was challenging, but the two of them helped the time to fly by. They spent a lot of time joking around but they did swap personal stories. Ruby was particularly interested in what Haven academy was like. Yang wanted to know more about Aurum's life in Mistral, how the black market and crime thrived underneath the kingdom's government's attempts to police its expansive lands.

Aurum learned a lot about them as well. The two sisters lived on the island of Patch with their father, Taiyang Xiao Long, a teacher at Signal Combat School. Their uncle Qrow also taught there and had helped Ruby learn how to use her scythe. Although the girls shared the same father, Ruby told Aurum of their different mothers. Yang's mom, Raven, left Taiyang without a trace. She also talked about Summer Rose, Ruby's mom. Yang didn't go into a lot of detail about Summer, but Aurum could tell from Ruby's silence that Summer was dead. Aurum had a deeper respect for the sisters. They had gone through all this emotional turmoil growing up and were still dealing with it.

But on a different level, he felt more connected to them. Aurum's father had left his family while he had been growing up. Aurum had lost someone as well. Not as close as a mother but Gelwaz had been more than just a mentor to him.

They took a break for dinner and ate with the rest of team RWBY. Sun and Neptune joined them. Blake ate a very quick meal before mumbling something about the library and leaving, Sun chasing after her. Neptune and Weiss flirted with each other throughout the meal.

The group were going to the library after dinner to play a game of Remnant. Yang had demanded a rematch of the board game after Neptune had won the last game a week ago.

Aurum declined their invitation to come with. He wanted to get back to working on the design for his hatchets. He parted way ways with the group: them to the library and he to the forge.

The forge was deserted when he got there. The desk attendant barely looked up from the book they were reading when Aurum walked by.

The lights were on, bathing the staircase in a warm orange glow. Aurum's workspace was a stark contrast to this. When he had been working with Yang and Ruby earlier, the place had felt cozy. It felt empty and cold now.

Laying down his hatchets, Aurum turned on the holo table and pulled up the designs he had worked on with the sisters. Like Ruby had said, making a set of chains and something to hold the slack had been easy. They had come up with twins reels that Aurum could attach to his sheaths when he made them: no more tucking the hatchets into belt loops. As for the chains, Ruby had found some in the forge inventory that had small enough links that they wouldn't make a lot of noise. Yang had insisted Aurum get gold chains instead of steel to "add a little flair." They sat coiled on the table, waiting to used.

The harder part was incorporating a gun function to the hatchets. They would have to hollow out the hatchets to put the metal in, but that would crack the shaft. Ruby had come up with the idea of attaching a gun to the side of the hatchets but they all agreed that that would only make the weapons unbalanced and unwieldy.

Aurum turned off all the lights except for the holo table. Basked in its blue glow, he looked through all the possible designs they had come up with, including the discarded ones. There had to be some way to get it to work.

The table was linked to the Cross Continental Transit System, so Aurum opened up a connection to the CCT and searched for ideas. He typed in "hatchet-gun design" but nothing popped up. Clicking for images, Aurum tried again. And then he found something.

One of the first photos was a metal tomahawk with a wooden handle. The wood had been put on around the metal shaft, secured by a few screws. There was no gun attachment but Aurum had an idea.

Aurum copied the photo and converted it into a 3-dimensional hologram. Sliding the original photo to the side, Aurum enlarged the hologram and started making changes. He hollowed out the metal shaft, allowing Aurum to slid in a gun design the Yang had come up with. The gun was basically a cylinder with a trigger that would be placed into a cut spot on the handle of the weapon. The bullets would be what Ruby called "double quad-shots"; eight bullets set four on four that could be slid easily into the chamber. They would be smaller than the average bullet because of this but if they were dust rounds, they would have the same, if not larger, impact.

Aurum made some adjustments to the tomahawks so that Yang's design would fit and checked it over. Everything worked perfectly. It had been difficult working the holographic designs with one hand, but Aurum had done it. Yang's design fit perfectly into the tomahawks.

The only drawback was that Aurum would be replacing his hatchets. There was no way he could remake his hatchets into tomahawks.

Or maybe there was…

Aurum pulled up the original scan that Yang had taken of his hatchets. Moving it next to the tomahawk design, Aurum examined them both.

Nodding to himself, Aurum selected the hatchet's holographic hilt and stripped it of some of its wood. Deleting the tomahawk's wooden grip, he put the strips of wood from the hatchets onto the tomahawk's metal shaft.

There. Aurum made a few quick adjustments to polish up the design before stepping back. Grabbing the real hatchets from their resting place on the table, Aurum ran his fingers up and down the wood.

Aurum had once met an elderly Faunus lady who had told him a story about a tribe of Faunus. These Faunus lived on an island between the continent of Anima, where the kingdom of Mistral resided, and the landmass of Menagerie. The tribe that lived on this island believed heavily that there was a bond between a warrior and their weapon. When a warrior died, a part of their soul would merge with their weapon so that, even in death, they could help protect their people.

Aurum wasn't sure if this was true at all, but part of him wanted to believe it. That way Gelwaz would always be with him. If it was real, hopefully using the wood of Gelwaz's hatchets to make the hilt of the tomahawks would keep part of his soul with Aurum.

Aurum shook his head with a foolish smile; of course it wasn't true. He just wanted the wood for the handle so that he didn't feel guilty about scrapping Gelwaz's hatchets.

Aurum checked his Scroll for the time. 8:24. Yang was probably still in the library playing Remnant; from playing with his brother Nave, Aurum knew the board-game could go on forever.

Aurum saved his new design to work on tomorrow. Hopefully Ruby and Yang could check it over before he started building the hatchets. Shutting down the table, Aurum left the workstation and locked the door. He left his hatchets in the room: he wouldn't need them for awhile.

His Scroll vibrated as he descended the stairs. Thinking it was Yang, Aurum quickly opened it up and scanned his messages. His heart sank.

It was from his team. They were back from the mission.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Where were you?" Henna demanded as Aurum opened the door to their room.

"Out," he said. Aurum didn't feel like now was the time to talk about remaking his hatchets, so instead he went straight for the dresser he shared with Slate and started changing into something to sleep in. "So how'd the mission go?"

"It went alright," Slate said, rubbing a towel through his wet hair. Aurum never understood why Slate took showers at night instead of in the morning; he was just setting himself up for a bad case of bedhead. Aurum would've made a joke about this like usual, except tonight it just aggravated him.

"We caught the loser that attacked you," Slate continued, throwing the towel aside. Jeez, would it hurt to hang it up?

"You caught Ciara?" Aurum was amazed. If they managed to get Ciara then that would be fantastic.

"No, we got that lion Faunus." Henna laid out her daggers on a dresser. Why hadn't she put those in her weapons locker? "What was his name?"

"Leo Tawny." Aurum gritted his teeth: she helped capture this guy and didn't remember his name? Not only that, but they didn't catch Ciara, meaning she was still out there on the loose. Although getting Leo was great, he wasn't the major threat. "But if you only captured him, why are you guys back?"

"Well, our mission was to find out what happened to that Faunus couple, the Dovetails," Silvia explained. Her pistols were set out on the night table next to her bed, two magazines waiting to be loaded. "We were able to track down Leo and he told us everything. Ciara killed them both and had the White Fang get rid of the bodies. The same thing happened to that bookstore owner, Tukson. Except Ciara wasn't the one who killed him."

"Who did?"

"Leo didn't know. Loden and Ivy think there are more high stakes players out there besides Ciara. They're trying to find another Huntsman team to look into it while they track down Ciara."

"So there's someone else out there. What about Ciara? She killed those people. How come you aren't helping Loden and Ivy find her?"

"After what happened to you, we know Ciara is out of our league." Slate grabbed his battle-axe, the blades in their circular sheath and the handle folded in.

Something wasn't right. Why were they keeping all their weapons in the room?

"We would only get in Loden and Ivy's way," Henna explained.

"Really?" Aurum thought back to last night, when Ciara had fled when she faced him, Yang, Ruby, Blake and Sun. She might be strong, but Ciara could easily be overpowered with enough people.

"Really," Slate said, setting his weapon down next to his bed. He turned and grinned. "So I guess we get to go to the dance as a team then."

"Guys," Aurum said. "You're hiding something."

"What are you talking about?" Henna asked, pulling aside the blankets to get into bed.

"Well, we usually keep our weapons in our lockers." Aurum spoke slowly, like he was talking to children. "Kind of a team thing; nobody wants to get decapitated while they're asleep."

"We're too tired to put them away." Slate yawned for effect.

"So let me get this straight," Aurum said. He could feel his temper about his teammates bubbling, ready to boil over. "First, you start making decisions behind my back. Now you're going to lie to my face?"

"What are you-"

"Shut it Henna," Aurum growled.

"Hey, don't you talk to her like that," Slate said, his face getting red.

"Oh, so now you're deciding how I talk to you guys?" Aurum demanded.

"No, just don't talk to my girlfriend like that!" Slate shouted, shoving Aurum into his bed. Slate's face paled when Aurum grunted from falling on his broken arm. "Hey, sorry man. I didn't-"

"Of course you did!" Aurum shot back to his feet, getting right into Slate's face. "You're just being an asshole like the rest of your family."

"That's enough!" Silvia yelled, stepping in front of her brother before he could punch Aurum. "I know we're all tired and on edge from the last few days but Aurum that was really uncalled for."

"No, it was totally called for! You think I haven't noticed what's going on? Silvia, you told me last night none of you trust me."

"That's not true," she insisted.

"Then why are you trying to keep me at Beacon? Think I'm stupid enough to go out looking for a murderer?"

"Well, you've done that already," Henna shot back. She was kneeling in her bed, poised in case Aurum went after Slate.

"If you all don't believe me that I wasn't out looking for Ciara last night, then that's your problem. I'm done telling you otherwise."

"Aurum," Silvia began, but he cut her off.

"Now you three are keeping your weapons here, in the room. What, you think Ciara is going to come busting in the window to kill me?"

"Yes!" Silvia said, her eyes starting to water. Aurum would've usually backed down and comforted her at this point, but seeing her get teary eyed tonight annoyed him.

"This is Beacon!" Aurum shouted. "Literally a school full of Huntsman and Huntresses! It's one of the safest places in the world."

"Aurum," Slate said with restraint. "Ciara doesn't care about that. If she wants you dead, she'll kill you no matter where you are."

"And she does want you dead," Silvia said. "Leo told us that Ciara is out to get you. We have our weapons here to protect you."

"I can protect myself," Aurum insisted.

"Really?" Henna asked. "How'd that go over last night?"

"What do you mean?"

"You think we're stupid? No, Silvia, let me talk," Henna said, raising a hand as Silvia tried to speak. "You told us that you went to the club with Sun and those three girls. I'm betting they saved your sorry ass quite a bit last night, didn't they?"

"Actually no," Aurum lied. Yang had saved him twice last night, once form Ciara's bullet and another from the Atlesian Knights, but his teammates didn't need to know that.

Henna gave a smug nod, not fooled by Aurum's lie.

"Aurum, everything we're doing is to keep you safe," Silvia said. "I'm sorry if you're offended by it, but we just want you to stay alive."

"At least until the tournament is over," Slate joked, but there was no humor in his eyes. Aurum's jab at his family wouldn't be forgotten anytime soon.

Aurum opened his mouth to say something about how Slate wasn't serious about anything, but stopped. The three of them were just looking out for him. That didn't mean Aurum was okay with it, but they were all still a team.

Sighing, Aurum instead stepped forward. He released his hands that he hadn't noticed until now were clenched tightly in fists.

"I'm sorry guys. You were just looking out for me."

"We're sorry too. We should have talked it over with you," Silvia said. Slate nodded. Henna just snorted and laid back in bed. "You are the team leader after all."

"Slate, man, I'm sorry." Aurum extended his good hand. Might a well start repairing bridges with Slate now. "I shouldn't have called your family assholes."

"Dude, it's fine." Slate clasped Aurum's hand. He started to pull Aurum into a one-handed bro-hug, but stopped: Aurum wasn't completely off the hook yet. Instead they did an awkward hand shake. "I shouldn't have shoved you."

"If we're all done apologizing, I want to get some sleep." With that, Henna shut her eyes, arms sprawled out at her sides.

"Before I forget," Slate said, pulling out his Scroll, flicking open his notes. "Loden asked to see if you would want to meet him. He and Ivy want to check up on you."

"That is, if you're okay to see them," Silvia said cautiously. She was clearly torn between making sure Aurum was fit to see the two Huntsmen and not repeating the fight from thirty seconds ago.

"I'm good enough to see them." Aurum decided it would be better to not add that if he could take on the White Fang, he could go see Loden and Ivy. "Did they give you a day that works for them?"

"Well, they're pretty busy trying to find Ciara and they know we have the dance this Sunday," Slate said, checking through the note. "But Ivy said they could spare some time next Tuesday morning if that's good with you. Apparently nothing interesting will be happening that day, what with all the first and third year huntsmen teams being out on their missions."

"We have classes starting back up, so I guess I could see them earlier in the morning."

"Cool. I'll let them know."

"Will you three please shut the hell up? Trying to sleep here."

Slate snickered, turning away from Aurum. He grabbed one of his pillows and tossed it across the room, landing it perfectly on Henna's face.

She didn't even move it but instead flashed everyone double middle fingers.

 **So this chapter is way shorter than usual. Originally, it was supposed to be a whole lot longer but since the chapter ended up being longer than I expected, I decided to break it up into two separate chapters. Sorry about that but I assure you, it's worth it. Things start picking up again in Chapter 13 and we're getting closer to the Beacon Dance (which I've heard a lot of you want to see).**

 **Happy New Years!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Silvia, Slate, and Henna must've been exhausted from capturing Leo Tawny, because Aurum was the first to wake up the next day. He quietly showered and got dressed, tip toeing around his teammates' beds. Aurum shot Yang a message to see what she was up to. She had had an early class today but said they could meet up once her morning classes were done.

The clock on his dresser read 10:30 when he was finally ready for the day. First years had an hour study period from 11-12 on Thursdays. Its purpose was to be for homework or to let students train on their own but most students used it to relax and have a little fun before lunch and afternoon classes. Aurum could go meet up with Team RWBY and hang with them until lunch. He seriously doubted they had any homework to do: the teachers wouldn't assign anything when the first years were going out on the missions next Monday. Not to mention that if they had any homework, Weiss would've probably already made the rest of the team complete it.

Slate grunted and shifted underneath his blankets. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Morning."

"Morning," Aurum replied. "What are you up to today?"

"Hopefully nothing," Slate murmured. "Wanna go grab some breakfast?"

"It's 10:30."

"Brunch then."

"I was actually about to head out to meet some friends," Aurum said. He grabbed his hoodie and gingerly slid his cast through the sleeve. "You can come with if you want."

"Yeah, okay," Slate mumbled, grabbing a towel from beside his bed. "I'll meet up with you in a bit."

"Cool." Aurum followed Slate out into the hall. "Meet us out by the fountain."

"Will do," Slate said, ducking into the bathrooms to shower.

With everyone in classes and the few second and fourth year teams back from their missions taking advantage of the opportunity to sleep in, the halls of Beacon were empty. Aurum's footsteps were the only echoes bouncing down the halls. It was too bad no one was outside enjoying the day: it was beautiful. A few clouds drifted lazily across the deep blue sky, pushed by a soft sea breeze.

Aurum took in the bright site of Beacon grounds. Back in Mistral, the snow would be finally melting from the higher cliffs of Windpath, Aurum's home city. Mistral's underworld would be waking back up as the mountain paths cleared in the north. Thieves would be heading back into the major cities, no longer having to lie low until winter ended. Robbery and the black market were seasonal things in Mistral: the government could catch you much more easily when snow blocked off the major mountain roads. Out in the smaller swamp villages it was a different story. Crime happened there all year round.

Vale didn't have these problems. The government here had the numbers to police the smaller kingdom. That is, until the White Fang came to town. But even now, there were always Huntsmen and Huntresses about to lend a hand. Mistral was too large for the government to control it's citizens. The Huntsmen and Huntresses there had more pressing issues; crime came second to the Grimm. The people of Mistral had to rely on what the police and government could do for the large kingdom.

Aurum shot Yang a quick message to meet him by the fountain. Hopefully she would be done with class soon because Aurum wanted to tell her about changing the design of his hatchets into tomahawks. Maybe he also wanted to tell Ruby since she was helping him with the project, but Aurum just really wanted to hear what Yang thought of it. If Yang approved, they could begin actually begin building the weapons today.

The fountain where he was meeting Yang was set in the middle of a large circular pool, with arches curving around the center. A walkway cut through the pool, with the fountain set directly into its middle.

Beacon Academy sat on the edge of a large cliff, across the bay from the kingdom of Vale. A road wound its way from the city up the cliff to Beacon, ending here at the fountain. Nowadays, everyone used the airfield on the cliff edge of Beacon to fly into Vale, but the road still had people using it to walk from Beacon to Vale.

Aurum stopped in his tracks when he saw a familiar Faunus sitting at the edge of the pool.

"Sun!" Aurum called.

The monkey Faunus jerked, looking up sharply from the water.

"Oh, hey Aurum," Sun said. He stood, brushing dirt off his pants.

"What are you doing over here?" Aurum asked, stopping beside him. "Don't you have class?"

"Of course I do." Sun flashed a grin. "But this place isn't so bad."

"I meant class like school."

"Didn't feel like going."

Something wasn't right with Sun. His kept glancing towards the school, as if he was waiting for someone. And then Aurum remembered how close Sun had been keeping to Yang's teammate, Blake, lately. So then if he was skipping class to wait for her, he must really want to see her.

"You're going to ask Blake to the dance, aren't you?"

Sun went beat red.

"No, its not like that," he said, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"You like her don't you?"

"Yeah, but-"

"So then ask her to the dance. It'd be the perfect chance to hang with her."

"I did," Sun blurt out. "I already asked Blake to the dance."

Aurum waited for him to elaborate. "And?"

"Blake's not going," Sun said, glancing back towards the doors. "She says she has too much to focus on right now."

"What is Blake focusing on to be too busy to go to a dance?" Aurum asked.

Sun sighed. "It's complicated."

"Does it have to do with her being a Faunus?" Sun opened his mouth but Aurum cut him off. "Don't even deny it, it wasn't too hard to figure it out."

"Okay fine, Blake's a Faunus. But that's a secret."

"Sure."

"I'm serious. Don't tell anyone. She'd kill me if she found out you knew." Sun got a puzzled expression. "How'd you even find out?"

"I, uh, used to work very closely with some Faunus back in Windpath. You know, commercially."

Sun grinned. "Didn't know you used to be a thief. I thought you said trained with an old Huntsman."

"I did but this was before I started training to be a Huntsman."

"So then you're not the nice guy everyone thinks you are." Sun grinned. "Too bad."

"What do you mean 'too bad'?"

"Well, Silvia is too much of a good girl for you," Sun said knowingly. He was a really slick guy to be able to flip the tables on Aurum that smoothly.

"Shut up," Aurum said. "We're talking about your girl problems, not mine."

"Sun's having girl problems?"

Aurum and Sun turned to find Slate standing on the path. Slate smirked, a smirk that grew as he walked over.

"Yeah, so?" Sun said. Aurum could tell Sun was trying to play it cool but Sun's hands curled into fists at his side; Sun had dealt with Slate too many times in the past to know this wasn't going to end well. Why couldn't these two just get along?

"So I'm not surprised." Slate crossed his arms. "What freak of a girl would want to be with you?"

"Watch it, Lager," Sun said and Aurum knew it was time to do something; last names were never a good sign.

Usually their teams would be around whenever these two went at each other. Neptune would be able to talk Sun down with help from their other teammates, Sage and Scarlett. Aurum and Silvia could get Slate to back down since Slate always started the fights.

Except none of them were here. It was just Aurum.

"Woah guys." Aurum placed himself between them, hands raised. It was futile though: if fists started being thrown, he wouldn't be able to do much with his broken arm and sprained leg. Then again, the two of them had only gotten in two fights ever since Sun entered Haven academy last fall. Neither had ended well but with how often Slate had a go at Sun, it was amazing that they had only had two fights.

"Aurum, don't worry," Slate said, glaring at Sun. "He's not going to do anything, just like he didn't do anything Tuesday night."

"What are you talking about?"

"He went to the club with you. I bet he didn't do a thing to those White Fang. Probably told Ciara that you were there."

"I'm not with the White Fang," Sun said, saying the terrorist group's name with disgust. "Not sure what you've heard, but Tuesday night wasn't the first time I've fought the White Fang."

"Really? Because that's not what I've heard."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the incident that happened at the docks last semester. You say you fought the White Fang but then how come the police say you attacked a human?"

"Roman Torchwick?" Sun laughed. "Yeah, I attacked him. You know why? Because he was _helping the White Fang_."

"Why would a human help Faunus trash?"

Aurum froze and stared at his teammate, the words he was going to say to get Slate in line not making it out of his gaping mouth.

Slate had never struck Aurum as a Faunus hater. He had always picked fights with Sun, sure, but Aurum had just thought he was jealous of Sun or something.

"That the best you've got? I've heard worse." Sun glanced at Beacon's clock-tower. "Common Aurum, let's go. The girls will be out any minute now."

"Is one of the girls the one that stood you up?" Slate smirked. "You can't take no for an answer?"

"See ya Slate," Sun said with a wave.

"Dude, what the hell?" Aurum demanded.

"What? You feel sorry for that animal? Because that's what he is, _an animal_ ," Slate hollered at Sun's back.

"You better-" Aurum began.

"No, I won't." Slate pushed Aurum aside and stalked after Sun. "Hey, you know what happened yesterday? We caught that Leo guy. The police have a record on him."

Sun turned around with a sigh. Aurum knew there was no losing Slate when he had something to say.

"Yeah, apparently Leo has murdered four humans," Slate said through gritted teeth. "One of them the daughter of a shop keeper who had done nothing wrong except tell Faunus they can't buy from him."

"Then Leo deserves to be caught," Sun said. "But I'm not him, okay? I don't kill people because I can't shop at places."

"Slate, let's go," Aurum said. He needed to get his teammate out of there.

"No," Slate said, eyes still on Sun. "You might not be him, but you're one of his kind. If your people think murder is how you get equal rights, then you're the ones who need to die."

"Don't rope me in with the Fang." Sun raised a finger threateningly. "There are plenty of peaceful Faunus who have suffered because of them, myself included."

"Yoo-hoo!"

The three boys turned.

Students were exiting Beacon's main doors, eager to make the most of their free time. Blake and Yang were making their way through the crowd towards them. Yang waved with a smile but Blake looked like she was being dragged along.

Slate glanced between Blake and Sun, probably taking note of Sun's winning smile.

"So that's the girl?" he said with a snort, putting two and two together. "No wonder she said no; probably doesn't wanna be seen with an animal."

Sun shoved Slate aside as he walked towards the girls. Aurum made to follow him when Slate said the words that ended any hope of peaceful resolution.

"Don't worry though: if she were an animal too, I'm sure she'd want you."

Sun spun around, forgetting about Yang and Blake. His smile was gone, replaced by a fire in his eyes. "Don't you ever call her an animal again."

"Why?" Slate asked. He eyeballed Blake, eyes lingering on her bow. "Because she is, isn't she? She's one of you animals-"

Even if Aurum could've used his semblance, he doubted his increased reaction time could've been fast enough to stop Sun's fist before it hit Slate's jaw.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Sun!" Aurum cried, jumping between the Faunus and Slate's stumbling form.

"Don't you ever call her an animal," Sun said through gritted teeth. He tried to push past Aurum, but the golden-haired boy kept his arms spread wide, preventing Sun's every move.

Slate spat out a blob of blood.

"You're going to regret that, monkey boy," he said, eyes glinting dangerously. "Wait until the entire school hears that Blake Belladonna is a goddamn Faunus."

"You-" Sun launched himself bodily at Slate but Aurum managed to hold him back.

"Hey!" Yang yelled. She and Blake came to a running stop beside the boys. Blake helped hold Sun back while Yang stared down Slate. "What's going on?"

Slate looked Blake over and sneered. "Well, look what the cat dragged in."

Blake gasped, eyes wide in shock and something else. Was she afraid? Afraid of what? Slate hadn't said anything that…

Her bow. The shape of it was perfect to hide cat ears. How did Slate notice that before Aurum had?

It took Yang a moment to piece together what Slate meant but that was all Sun needed. While Aurum was busy peering at Blake's bow, Sun pushed him aside and swung again at Slate.

Slate was ready Sun this time. He ducked the bow, grabbed Sun's follow up punch, twisted Sun's arm and threw the Faunus off balance, planting a kick to Sun's back for good measure.

Aurum had seen that move before: he had had it used on him multiple times in training sessions. Slate usually used it whenever he went up against two opponents. It was a way to get rid of one attacker so Slate could focus on the next.

Yang didn't know this.

Before Aurum could even call a warning, Yang charged Slate, eyes red with fury.

Yang was a good fighter, one of the best Aurum had seen. But Slate was a better one. He was a second-year student, a student who had had years of training prior to Haven. And Slate was an unmovable foe once he had good footing.

Yang tried two lightning quick punches to the stomach followed by an uppercut. Slate sidestepped the punches and grabbed Yang's arm on the uppercut. Whipping a leg around, he swept Yang off her feet. Yang fell to the ground with a painful smack.

Blake didn't move. She took a step back but glanced at Yang and Sun. If it weren't for the two of them there, Aurum got the impression she would've run, which was very unlike Blake. The Blake Aurum knew would have fought back.

Looks like it was up to him.

"Slate, stop it," Aurum growled at his teammate.

"You're not defending these animals, are you?" Slate spat. "Anyone who sides with Faunus and the White Fang deserve to be punished."

"Slate, shut your mouth." Aurum pointed a finger threateningly. "I'll get you kicked out of Haven if you don't shut up."

"So that's how it is," Slate said. "Animals and bimbos before teammates."

"Excuse me?" Yang demanded, staggering to her feet. Maybe it was just the sun, but Yang's hair looked to be glowing.

Aurum took a step forward. He needed to end this before the situation got any worse.

"Slate, I'm warning you-"

Aurum recognized the blow micro-seconds before Slate threw it. A calmness overtook him: his semblance activated automatically.

Something that shouldn't be possible in his injured state. His Aura was still nearly depleted and what little Aurum had was working on fixing his sprained leg and broken arm.

Regardless, as Slate took a step forward, Aurum took a step back, instinctively leaning back.

Slate's fist missed his nose by centimeters.

Slate was off balance. Not knowing what he was doing, Aurum threw two punches at Slate's exposed stomach. Neither were very hard punches since Aurum did not want to hurt Slate, but he forgot about the cast on his left hand.

"Gah!" Slate gasped. Slate collapsed like a folding chair, staggering away from Aurum.

Aurum cradled his hand. Pinpricks of pain were starting to shoot through it. His semblance had shut down, allowing the unwanted feeling of pain to return to his broken arm.

"Slate, I'm sorry," he told his teammate. Aurum stepped forward to help but Slate pushed him aside, venom in his eyes.

"You… you…" Slate wheezed, clutching his stomach. Whatever Aurum was, he didn't find out. Slate just couldn't form the words, whether from having the wind knocked out of him or from how red his face was from anger.

"Are you done?" Yang demanded. She was back on her feet and looked ready for round two with Slate.

Slate's eyes flickered from Yang to Aurum to Sun to Blake and then back to Yang.

"This," he rasped. "This isn't over."

"I think it is," Yang said fiercely.

As Slate stumbled away, Yang turned to Sun and Aurum. "What was that even about?"

"Slate knows Blake's a Faunus," Sun said, glaring at Slate's retreating back. "He called her an animal."

"How'd he even find out?

"Well, I, er…" Sun sputtered.

Sun's reaction to Slate's taunts had revealed Blake as a Faunus. If he told Blake this, Aurum had no doubt that she would never talk to Sun again. Sun would lose all chances of getting together with her.

Aurum couldn't have that happen. A horrible idea sprang to mind.

Aurum had been the one to tell Slate to meet him by the fountain. He thought he knew Slate but the fight showed he didn't know his teammate. Maybe if he had known how deeply Slate hated Faunus, how hearing what Leo Tawny had done to humans would set Slate off, Aurum could've stopped the fight before it started. All of this was his fault and so, no matter how much he didn't want to do it, he couldn't have Sun be in trouble for his mistakes.

"I told him," Aurum said. He braced himself for one of the girls to do something. Punch him, scream, cuss him out. Yang definitely looked ready to: Aurum was thankful she didn't have her gauntlets with her. But she seemed to be waiting for Blake's reaction.

"Only he knows," Aurum insisted, turning to Blake. "I swear, I only told Slate."

Sun gawked at Aurum but the girls didn't pay him any mind.

Blake's eyes watered with fear. Yang moved to put an arm around her friend, but Blake shrugged her off. Blake shot Aurum a glowering look before stalking off.

"Blake," Sun called but the Faunus didn't even acknowledge him.

"What the hell is wrong with you? With the both of you?" Yang demanded. When Sun opened his mouth in protest, Yang raised her hand, shushing him. "No, it's obvious you told him Sun."

"Sun didn't tell me. I figured it out myself," Aurum said. "I've worked with Faunus before and Blake behaved like many of them."

"So what? You thought it was okay to go tell your teammate that she's a Faunus? She obviously wanted to hide it."

"I know-"

"Oh, you know." Yang scowled. "Then why the hell would you tell your lunatic of a teammate? No, don't say anything. We're done."

"Yang," Sun protested but Yang cut him off.

"No Sun. If he's to stupid and insensitive to do something like this, then I don't wanna see him again." Yang turned to leave but paused. "Aurum, if we have to fight in the tournament, consider yourself dead."

"Yang," Aurum began but she was gone, running after Blake. Aurum watched her leave all the way until Yang disappeared inside.

Yang didn't look back once.

There was silence for a few moments.

"Why'd you do that?" Sun asked. The Faunus stared at him with a mixture of guilty and gratefulness.

Aurum sighed.

"You're still got a chance with Blake now," Aurum said. He had never sounded more defeated: Sun was safe but Aurum had lost all chances of winning Yang over. Hell, he had burned every bridge he had with Yang.

"Yeah, but-"

"I gotta go." Aurum didn't feel like being with anyone right now. "See you later Sun."

"Okay. Yeah. See you later."

What was he thinking? Yang hated him now, apparently wanted him dead. She would probably tell the rest of her team and they would all hate him as well.

And Slate? He would definitely tell Silvia and Henna about how Aurum attacked him. Forget about the fact that he had been defending Sun and Yang. Henna already distrusted Sun and Silvia didn't seem to be a fan of Yang one bit.

Aurum had alienated himself from both team ASHS and team RWBY.

 **Sorry for such a short chapter. I remember when I wrote this: I had a lot of stuff going on in my personal life. I can safely say, however, that this is the shortest chapter for the rest of the story. I'll keep editing what I have and keep posting new chapters every Sunday.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

He didn't feel like facing his teammates yet, so Aurum went to the one place in Beacon he could be alone.

The Forge was very quiet today. The desk attendant lazily glanced up at Aurum as he walked in. Nobody was working in any of the workspaces Aurum passed on the stairs; guess all the students were savoring their break before lunch.

Pulling up the blueprints from the holo table, Aurum set to work. He needed something to do, something to stop him from thinking about how all his friends hated him.

Aurum studied his tomahawk design, the design he had wanted to ask Yang's opinion on. What had started out as a project with Yang and Ruby was now just his.

And since Yang wasn't going to look over the design, Aurum was going to go ahead with it.

He skipped lunch. The afternoon was spent in the Forge, building his new weapons. What usually took Huntsmen-in-training two days, Aurum did in six hours. He broke down his hatchets, removing the wooden handles and melting down the blades. Aurum combined that molten metal with steel, letting it cool before hammering it into tomahawk blades. Back in the olden days, it took blacksmiths a lot longer to do this. With all of Beacon's advanced equipment, Aurum was able to get the blades completely done in two hours with no breaks.

It was tiring but Aurum's anger fueled him. He was angry with Slate but also with himself. Aurum pushed aside the thoughts of what he could've done and instead tried to lose himself in the work.

Once the blades were done, he worked on the handle: steel frame with wooden panels from his hatchets laid in the sides. Stripes of gold crisscrossed down the wood, adding some flair to the weapon. It took Aurum some time, but he was able to copy the extending mechanism from his hatchets that turned them into axes. He could've just transferred the original parts into the tomahawks but those parts were old and needed to be replaced. Although it was frustrating trying to get the small metal bits to extend properly, Aurum was able to make it work. He wouldn't be able to fire the tomahawks while they were in axe form but Aurum was fine with that.

The gun mechanism for the weapon took the most time, which was saying something because by the time he started on it, his Scroll read that it was already 4 o'clock. He had been working nonstop for five hours. He hadn't had breakfast or lunch and his stomach wasn't letting him forget it. But going to the cafeteria meant seeing Team RWBY, who would probably kill him. He also wanted to avoid his own teammates, who would without a doubt kill him. Henna and Silvia would have heard the full story from Slate by now.

So Aurum skipped dinner. He would have to deal with his teammates eventually but that could wait, preferably until after he was done building something to defend himself. Defend, or use on Slate. Aurum hadn't decided which yet.

The firing mechanism required a lot of tinkering. Aurum ordered a large surplus of tiny metal pieces from the Forge's inventory, which arrived within minutes in his workstations dumbwaiter. Reflecting on how amazing Beacon was, he sat down to work.

It was frustrating work. Each little piece supported the next, requiring precise placement into the tomahawk's handle. Part of the reason it took Aurum so long was because there were multiple times when he would have to disassemble the whole firing system because one piece was off by millimeters. Eventually the firing mechanism clicked into place.

Aurum slid the blade of the weapon into it's slot, locking it. He gave the weapon a few experimental twirls, enjoying the balanced feel of the weapon as it cut through the air. He couldn't wait until he made its twin. Hopefully the second tomahawk wouldn't take as long now that he knew what he needed for it.

"Well, that's new."

Aurum spun around, tomahawk raised defensively.

"So this is where you've been all day," Silvia said. The door silently slide shut as she walked into the room.

"It's a very cool place," Silvia continued, running her hand around the edge of the dust tray. Aurum almost warned her about the crystals but remembered how often Silvia worked with dust. She often made special bullets for her pistols out of dust. "Perfect place to hide."

"Before you get angry," Aurum said, "can I at least tell a version of this morning that isn't from Slate's mouth?"

"No need to," Silvia said. "I was able to piece together the full story from Slate's rantings."

"That's not what-"

"Slate overheard you and Sun talking about Sun's Faunus crush, picked a fight, and got his ass whipped by you two and that Yang girl." Silvia paused. "Does that sound about right?"

Aurum blinked in surprise: he had not been expecting Silvia to say that. "Pretty accurate, yeah. How did you piece all that together?"

"Aurum, I know my brother."

"Did you know he wants to exterminate all Faunus?"

Silvia leaned against the holo table.

"No, I didn't," she murmured. "I always knew he wasn't happy with the Faunus. He's like our dad like that: both of them despise the White Fang."

"Really?" Aurum had met their parents. Mr. Lager had been a very nice man. Highly political, yes, but then who wouldn't be when they're that wealthy in Mistral?

"Yes," Silvia sighed. "Slate and I grew up listening to my father rant about their sabotaging his dust shop chain. When Father went bankrupt from their attacks and had to sell what he had left to the Schnee Dust Company, he was furious. He got a job in the government to combat the White Fang. I guess I never realized how much of an effect that had on Slate."

"But that was just the White Fang. Slate wants all the Faunus to pay."

"Aurum, did Slate tell you what Leo Tawny did?" Silvia asked. "Loden let us look at his file. He's killed children."

"I know. Slate told me." What Leo Tawny had done was inexcusable to Aurum. If he wasn't already locked up, Aurum would've gone after him himself, Ciara be damned. "But the White Fang did that, not the Faunus."

Silvia shook her head. "Slate doesn't see the difference between the two. Hearing what Leo did for the White Fang set him off. Slate doesn't care. He thinks that if you're a Faunus, you need to answer for what the rest of your kind have done."

"Then he's just as bad as those racist freaks in Atlas."

Silvia looked away but Aurum caught the pain in her eyes. Seeing her brother act this way must be tearing Silvia apart. Aurum felt guilty for not spotting this side of Slate. He couldn't imagine how Slate's twin sister felt.

Aurum cleared his throat. Perhaps it was time to move the conversation to something else.

"So, where's Henna?"

"When I left the room to find you, she was still trying to calm Slate down."

"What? You mean she isn't taking Slate's side in this?" Henna always had her boyfriend's back.

"It's not that surprising," Silvia said, eyebrow raised. "Henna might like not tell us everything about her past, but she's definitely not a racist."

"It's just, I wasn't exactly nice to her last night," Aurum said, thinking about how he had yelled at her to shut up.

"You weren't exactly nice to any of us last night," Silvia said pointedly. "Look, Henna told me herself she doesn't want the team to break apart like this. She thinks of us as family. She might not show it, but Henna has been really worried about you."

"Really?"

"We all have." Silvia checked the time on her Scroll. "We should probably head back to the dorm. Henna said she was going to get Slate to go for a walk with her."

"Great. Slate can beat me up later."

Silvia grinned evilly. "Not if he is black out drunk."

"You two think of everything." Aurum shook his head in amazement. If Slate came back to the dorm super drunk, hopefully he would pass out on his bed and save Aurum of the inevitable confrontation the two of them would have. "Remind me to never get on your bad side."

"I will. Now common, let's go." Silvia stopped at the door and spun around. "By the way, I love the new weapons. Did you reuse the wood from your hatchets for the handles?"

"Yep." Aurum brushed past her. The lights automatically faded to black as he locked the workstation door.

"That's pretty cool." Silvia fell in beside him on the stairs. "It's like Gelwaz is still with you."

"My thoughts exactly," Aurum agreed.

"You know," Silvia said, "there is a tribe of Faunus on an island off of Menagerie who believe people's souls are tied to their weapons."

"I've heard that before from an old Faunus lady woman back home. It isn't true but it would be cool if it was."

"Why couldn't it?" Silvia asked, waving to the Forge's desk attendant who looked ready to fall asleep.

"Oh, come on." Aurum held the door for her before they set off for the dorms. "People's souls being tied to weapons? How can that be possible?"

"Isn't your Aura just a manifestation of your soul? What if part of your Aura gets tied to your weapon?"

"But," Aurum began, but like always, Silvia had a point.

They bickered about Aura all the way back to Team ASHS' dorm room. Like many things, Silvia knew more about it then Aurum but that didn't stop him coming up with stupid arguments to try on her.

Aurum was really tempted to ask her about his Semblance. Supposedly, his low Aura was focused on healing his broken arm and sprained leg, but somehow he had had enough Aura to use his Semblance that morning against Slate. Well, his Semblance had activated unconsciously. It was the first time Aurum had ever used his Semblance without purposely activating it. He was curious if Silvia knew if that was normal amongst Huntsmen but he didn't want to ruin their playful debate by bringing up this morning again, so he ended up not asking. Maybe they would have time another day to discuss it.

Since dinner was over in Beacon's dining hall, Aurum and Silvia broke out some of their own food back at the dorm and had a little picnic on the floor between all the beds. They made sandwiches and talked about the Vytal Festival Tournament, which was drawing closer. It was fun to speculate what Huntsmen teams would make it through to the finals.

For a moment, Aurum felt like the last few days hadn't happened. Everything was back to normal: he and Silvia could hang out and talk while Henna and Slate were off somewhere else. Of course, when Slate got back and was sober tomorrow, trouble would resume. But for now, Aurum just wanted to savor this moment with Silvia.

Silvia's Scroll beeped around ten o'clock. She didn't notice it at first: the two of them were too busy laughing about one of the Beacon professors they had met last week, Dr. Oobleck.

"Seriously, what is with that guy?" Aurum asked. "He's already super hyperactive without any caffeine."

Silvia snickered. "At least he's a better teacher then that Peter Port guy."

"The only normal teacher at Beacon is Glynda," Aurum said as Silvia's Scroll beeped again. "And she has a goddamn riding crop as her weapon."

"I'll admit, that is intimidating," Silvia said absently, checking her Scroll. With a sigh, she slid it shut and glanced around.

"Who was that?" Aurum asked as she slowly stood up.

"Henna." Silvia brushed sandwich crumbs off her grey vest. "She needs help getting Slate back here."

"How drunk is he?" Aurum didn't want to ruin the first great evening he had had with Silvia in a while by yelling at her drunk twin.

"He doesn't even remember you," Silvia said simply. "Are you okay if I go?"

She kept glancing at the single large dorm window, giving Aurum flashbacks to when Ciara's bullets broke the Faunus lady's windows on their way to kill her.

Aurum shook his head. There had been nothing he or Loden could have done. Aurum saw that now. But this time he was safe. Aurum was surrounded by hundreds of Huntsmen in training, not to mention Ozpin and the teachers. Not even Ciara would try to get him inside Beacon.

"I'll be fine," he said. When Silvia lingered, Aurum gave her a convincing smile. "Seriously, I'm good. Trust me."

She hesitated for a second before nodding. "Okay, your right. We should be back in a half hour."

"I'll probably be asleep," Aurum said. "It's been a long day."

"You can say that again," Silvia said with a laugh. She grabbed her dual pistols off her dresser and slid them into their holsters. "Well, then good night. We can deal with Slate tomorrow once he's sobered up."

"Looking forward to it," Aurum muttered. He perked up as an idea came to him. Silvia hadn't been mad at him about fighting Slate this morning. Perhaps it wasn't too late to find a date to the dance after all.

But just the thought of asking Silvia was terrifying. He would rather face a pack of Beowolves.

He took a deep breath and did a trick his mother had taught him when he was very young. He gathered his thoughts, exhaled, and mentally counted to three. On three, ignoring the voice in his head saying this is stupid, Aurum asked, "Silvia, would you go to the dance with me?

She paused at the door, one hand on the handle.

Aurum inwardly freaked out. Was she going to say no?

"Yes," she said, blushing but eyes sparkling. "I'd love to go with you. I mean, I would like to go with you."

"Great," Aurum said. He would've slapped himself for how lame he sounded but inside he was too busy celebrating. Silvia was going to the dance with him!

 _But what about Yang?_ A small part of his brain asked, but that was drowned out by the rest of his mind.

Silvia backed out of the room, trying and failing to hide the smile on her face. "Good night Aurum."

"Good night Silvia."

Once the door was shut, Aurum double fist pumped the air. He had asked Silvia to the dance and she had said yes.

His day had done a complete one-eighty. As long as Aurum focused on going to the dance with Silvia, he could almost ignore the fact that Yang hated him.

Almost.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The tomahawks looked amazing sitting together on the bench.

Aurum had finished the second tomahawk that morning and tried it out with its twin. He was extremely happy with them. Maybe it was because he made the tomahawks but he felt more comfortable with them then he had ever felt with his hatchets. They just felt right. Aurum didn't want to set them down and with his newly forged golden holsters and chains, he never would have to.

When he had tested the new weapons in a sparring match with Silvia, she couldn't disarm him for more than a few seconds. Every time the tomahawks were knocked from his hands, Aurum would tap a button on the holsters on his hips. The chain connected to the weapon would be rapidly retracted, reeling in the tomahawk. It took Aurum a few tries but eventually he got the hang of grabbing the tomahawks from air as they shot into the holsters.

The holsters themselves weren't too impressive, that is until Silvia had offered some input into the design. They were basically metal boxes around the reel of chain and a small clip. The clip kept the weapons from flailing around when Aurum had the chains fully retracted. A gold cloth hung from each holster, keeping the weapons from digging into Aurum's legs. Silvia had spruced up the design by embedding golden embroidery to the black holsters.

After their sparring session, Aurum and Silvia had split up: Aurum to put his new tomahawks into one of Beacon's weapons lockers, Silvia to go find Henna and Slate.

Before Aurum had left for the Forge that morning, he, Silvia and Henna had had a team meeting.

Slate was left passed out on the floor. The girls had tucked Slate into bed late last night but he had rolled out of bed in a drunken haze. Aurum was asleep when this happened and neither Henna nor Silvia had wanted to help Slate back into bed, so he had ended up sleeping on the floor.

Aurum and the girls had agreed that Slate couldn't be left alone, lest he tell anyone that Blake was a Faunus or in case he went after Sun again. And since Slate hated Aurum's guts currently, it was up to Silvia and Henna to keep an eye on Slate. They also decided Aurum should find somewhere else to sleep for a few days, just to let things blow over between him and Slate. The girls were confident that Slate could come around but Aurum had his doubts. Regardless, it was better if Aurum was out of the picture for a while.

Turned out Aurum's job was the easiest. He messaged a couple of second year friends from Haven. Once he explained himself, they were more than happy to let him use their dorm while they were still out on their mission in Vale.

Once Aurum had gotten all that squared away, he, Silvia and Henna decided it was time to their fourth teammate. Henna poured a cup of water on Slate's face before offering him another. Slate was so hung over he didn't protest. He just sat there, drinking water and squinting at the sunlight radiating through the window. Every so often he would scowl at Aurum.

Aurum took a deep breath, counted down from three, and started talking as Henna wrapped an arm around Slate. Silvia closed the drapes for her brother.

"Listen Slate," Aurum began. "What happened yesterday was way out of line. You're lucky I'm not having you kicked from the team."

"So, why aren't you?" Slate muttered, massaging his forehead. "Afraid I'll tell everyone Blake's a Faunus?"

"I'm not having you kicked out of Team ASHS because you're my friend. But I swear, if you tell anyone that Blake is a Faunus, I will talk to the headmaster and get you kicked out of Haven. That also goes for if you try to attack Sun or any other Faunus, got it?"

Slate had flinched at Aurum's raised voice but still glared at Aurum. "You can't get me expelled."

"Watch me," Aurum said, deadpanned. If any of the teachers back at Haven heard about Slate attacking Beacon students, they would expel him, especially if Aurum told them that Sate had also attacked him while Aurum was injured. Aurum didn't want to get Slate expelled but if it came to it, he would.

"Aurum, aren't you being a little harsh?" Henna asked. "Expelling Slate? Common."

Why was Henna siding with Slate? Just minutes ago she had agreed that Slate had to be punished if he did anything like this again. And although she hadn't met Blake, Henna had agreed that Blake's secret and privacy needed to be protected.

Aurum had never been good at reading what Henna's intentions were. Sure, it helped when she was in combat but not for the first time was Aurum wishing he knew what his teammate wanted.

"There is no room for anyone on Team ASHS who attacks Faunus," Aurum said. He glanced at Silvia. She looked away from her brother and gave a slight nod.

Slate caught their exchange.

"Ironic, isn't it?" he said, pausing to take a large sip of water. "Two days ago, you were complaining about being ganged up on by the three of us, but now you're doing the same thing to me."

"What goes around, comes around," Aurum retorted but he had noticed how ironic and hypocritical it was. Aurum hadn't liked it one bit when things had been the other way around, and yet here he was doing it to Slate.

"Slate," Silvia said, "I don't want to tell mom and dad you were expelled because you attacked Aurum and a Faunus."

"Don't tell anyone that Blake is a Faunus," Aurum said. "And stop picking fights with Sun and other Faunus. That stops now."

Slate shakily stood, holding his stomach.

"Fine," he grunted. "But like you said: what goes around, comes around."

He made a beeline for the door, wobbling slightly as he rushed to the bathroom.

"Well," Silvia said a few seconds of silence. Aurum nudged the door shut so the three of them wouldn't have to hear Slate's vomiting. "That went okay."

"You never said anything about expelling him," Henna said reproachfully to Aurum.

"Then what should I have said? That he would get a time out next time?" Aurum demanded. "Slate needs to know there are serious consequences if he ever pulls this shit again."

"Yes, but kicking him out of Haven is too harsh. I don't want to see our team fall apart," Henna shot back, heading out the door to help her boyfriend.

Now that Aurum reflected on it as he found his assigned weapon's locker, Henna was stressed out by the issues going on within Team ASHS. Slate was no doubt giving her grief because she took their side even though he is her boyfriend. She must not think that eventually the problem with Slate would stop. He had to come around eventually and not think that all Faunus were evil.

Aurum hoped he could grant Henna's wish, but Team ASHS was falling apart around them. Hopefully once they got back to Haven, away from Blake, the four of them could come together and be a real team once again.

Aurum stowed his tomahawks in the locker and set the numerical password. It took a few seconds since the locker had to resync with his Scroll but once it did, Aurum could summon the rocket propelled locker to himself from anywhere in the city of Vale. All he had to do was enter the password into his Scroll and his weapons would be there in seconds.

Once he was done there, Aurum headed off to the cafeteria for dinner. It was supposed to close for the night in a half hour. Aurum had intentionally put purposely put off eating dinner earlier. He didn't want to run into Team RWBY or Sun but more specifically, Yang.

Yang had been pissed at him yesterday. Aurum had never seen anyone so angry before and he wasn't stupid enough to think that she would have calmed down by now. No, even if Yang calmed down, she would still hate him. She thought that Aurum had told Slate Blake's secret and that was something Aurum knew she wouldn't forgive. Aurum had tried to console himself that he had taken the fall for Sun but that wasn't much comfort.

Luck was not on his side tonight. Team RWBY was still having dinner when he walked into the cafeteria. Aurum walked the long way around the room so that he wouldn't have to sit by them: Weiss, upon spotting him, stood up. She looked ready to claw his eyes out. That, or get her sword to stab him. Blake glared at him while Yang ignored Aurum entirely. Ruby, however, grabbed Weiss' arm and pulled her back into her seat.

Ruby cast him a look of pity and confusion. Something told Aurum that she didn't believe that Aurum's story that he had told Slate that Blake was a Faunus.

Aurum grabbed a tray of food and sat down, not trying to look at their team. But he couldn't help but notice that Sun and Neptune were sitting with them. Sun kept glancing his way.

Aurum had never eaten so quickly: he'd rather not be in the same room as Team RWBY. Gathering up his dishes, Aurum got up to leave, only to sit back down as Yang, Weiss, and Blake stood.

The three girls grabbed their empty trays and left. Ruby stayed behind to say something to Sun before following her teammates.

Sun and Neptune started to walk towards Aurum's spot but he didn't give them a chance to talk. Ignoring Sun's call to him, Aurum dropped his tray into the dish return and left the cafeteria. As a former thief, Aurum had been followed before and hadn't forgotten how to lose someone. He easily lost Sun and Neptune in Beacon's numerous hallways.

Aurum had wanted to go to the library after dinner but Team RWBY would most likely be there: Blake had been spending an unnatural amount of time in there recently. So the library wasn't an option. And since Aurum's teammates were probably back in their dorm, he couldn't go back there unless he wanted to deal with Slate again, who would be sober by now.

Sighing, Aurum decided to call it a night. A few minutes later, he unlocked the door to his friend's dorm.

Aurum tried not to disturb anything in the room as he got ready for bed. It was nice of them to let him stay here while they were still out on their mission. He didn't want to be rude and mess with anything of theirs.

Climbing into one of the beds, Aurum turned on the TV. After surfing the channels and finding nothing good on, Aurum settled on the news. Opening up his Scroll to check his messages, Aurum tuned out most of what the reporter was saying. That is, until something caught his ear.

"Local police are confident it correlates to the arrival of the Atlas Security Fleet overhead," said a reporter standing in downtown Vale. "Thanks to Atlas' intervention, we are seeing a dramatic decrease in White Fang activity. And with the unveiling of Atlesian Knight-200 by Atlas General Ironwood, we can only assume that this trend will continue. Back to you, Lisa."

Aurum mulled over what the reporter had said as the news network talked about some new charity in Vale. White Fang activity was going down? How could that be? Sure, Atlas was helping the police combat the White Fang in Vale. But if the White Fang could steal Atlas weaponry for their own uses, Aurum doubted that Atlas was really accomplishing anything against the White Fang. No, something wasn't right.

When Aurum and Loden had spoken with that Faunus woman in her apartment, she had said something big was about to happen. Something so big it warranted Ciara killing her to keep the woman quiet. Could it have something to do with the decrease in White Fang activity in Vale?

Aurum would have to ask Loden when he saw the Huntsman Tuesday morning. Tuesday felt so far away but Aurum would just have to wait to have his questions answered.

Finding no messages on his Scroll, Aurum shut it down and turned off the TV. Hoping that tomorrow would be a better day, Aurum fell into a fitful sleep.

That Saturday was the longest Saturday Aurum ever experienced. Henna and Silvia spent most of the day in Vale getting ready for the dance on Sunday, which meant Aurum had no one to hang with. He trained with his new tomahawks but primarily spent all of Saturday avoiding Slate and Team RWBY.

That night he checked the news again but there was no new reports on the White Fang. Aurum was getting steadily more worried but decided to deal with the dance the next day before he tried to figure out what was happening in Vale.

One positive thing that did happen on Saturday: while Aurum was training with his new tomahawks, he felt a tingling sensation in his broken arm. He had been only been using one of his tomahawks because of his cast. But as Aurum brought the weapon up to block an imaginary blow, he felt goose bumps under his cast.

Aurum held up his arm and incredibly, was able to move his fingers without feeling any pain.


	17. Chapter 17

**And I'm finally back. I'm sorry to everyone that I dropped the ball on this story but thanks to the annoying reminders from a friend (you know who you are), I'm here to finish this story for good. Course, it will be slow updates but I swear to everyone of my readers, this story is getting finished.  
**

 **Here's the next chapter of The Fall of Ash. And since it's been awhile, here's a new disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any of it's characters, all of which belong to Rooster Teeth. I get nothing from this story besides the eventual satisfaction of finishing it.**

Chapter 17

"Well, Mr. Aureate, this is surprising," Glynda Goodwitch said, examining her clipboard. "Most injuries of this scale take weeks to heal, but it would appear that your arm has fully recovered. There are no remaining bone fractures but I still recommend you try not to strain it for a few days."

"Yes, ma'am," Aurum said, sliding on his jacket.

Aurum had gone to see Glynda early Sunday morning. His arm felt completely fine, although he had kept the cast on to be safe. Glynda had called in Beacon's nurse, who confirmed that Aurum's arm was no longer broken. After removing the cast, the nurse examined his leg, which she said looked like Aurum had never even sprained it.

After dismissing the nurse, Glynda checked Aurum's aura level, which revealed the most surprising part: his Aura was back to its normal reading. It should have been low from healing his injuries, but Aurum's Aura was back at full strength.

"I will inform the headmaster of your recovery." Glynda made another note on her clipboard. "But I must say that your Aura is unique. I've only have one other student with an Aura as remarkable as yours but his does not have as strong of a recovery time."

"Does this mean I will be able to fight in the tournament?" Aurum asked.

"I see no reason why you shouldn't." Glynda set down her clipboard. Pushing her glasses up to her eyes, she looked Aurum in the eye. "Mr. Aureate, I would also recommend you do not do anything reckless until the tournament. I was able to review your team's combat records. Team ASHS looks to be one of Haven's finest teams in recent years. Professor Lionheart speaks very highly of you."

Glynda returned Aurum's small smile when he heard this. Although Professor Lionheart, Headmaster of Haven Academy, was a boastful man, it was surprising to hear that he spoke highly of Team ASHS. Aurum always felt that the man didn't like him.

Glynda continued. "However, you will need to be in prime condition if you wish to represent Haven Academy in the tournament."

"Of course," Aurum said, getting to his feet.

"Very well then, you may go," Glynda said, sensing his indecision over if he was dismissed. "Have a good day, Mr. Aureate."

"Same to you, ma'am," Aurum replied.

As soon as the door to Glynda's office shut, Aurum fist pumped the air. He was cleared to fight in the tournament! He remembered watching previous Vytal Festival Tournaments, huddling around his family's flickering television screen, cheering on his favorite teams with his siblings. And this year, it was going to be him on the screen. Everyone in Remnant was going to see him fight for Haven Academy. He was going to be one of the fighters that his two sisters and brother were cheering on.

That is, unless Team ASHS was eliminated early on in the tournament. They would be going up against other Huntsmen teams and there were definitely more experienced teams. Aurum pushed that negative thought aside. He thought about what Glynda had said. Professor Lionheart thought they were one of his best teams. If the headmaster of Haven Academy felt that way, then it must be true.

Team ASHS was going to make it to the finals. Aurum was sure of it.

That is, as long as Team ASHS could hold it together. The whole 'Slate's a racist' problem could lessen their chances but surely all four of them could put aside their problems and fight together as a team again.

The Tournament was only a week away. Typically, the first and third year students were given a week to complete their Huntsmen assignments, which they would be receiving tomorrow. Which meant it was time for Aurum to up his training. Glynda was right that he needed rest but Aurum needed to be comfortable using his tomahawks. They may be somewhat similar to his old hatchets, but if Aurum couldn't wield his new weapons then he would only hold his team back.

Maybe he should ease into the training? No, Aurum felt fine. He wasn't going to push himself but there was no reason that he should go easy in training.

Aurum was pulled from his thoughts as he spotted a mane of blonde hair. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going and had wandered into Beacon's main hall.

Aurum ducked behind a pillar as Yang passed, followed closely by Weiss.

Weiss and Yang were arguing about preparations for the dance. Something about dollies and fog machines. Whatever it was, they didn't see Aurum. They went out the main doors.

Which was fine by Aurum. He was tired of avoiding Team RWBY. It was just too awkward to be around people who hated his guts. Part of him was grateful for the Tournament. Hopefully Yang would be too busy worrying about it to remember she wanted Aurum dead.

Not that Aurum was going to try and talk to her again. After the Tournament, he would be going back to Mistral and wouldn't have to see Yang for another two years for the next Vytal Festival. No, Aurum just wanted Yang to stop scowling every time she and Aurum were in the same room. He would much rather see her confident grin but Aurum knew the only time he would see her smile again would be if they had to face each other in the tournament.

So, although he didn't want it this way, the less Aurum saw of Team RWBY, the better.

Aurum turned and yelped. Ruby Rose's face was inches from his own.

Aurum pretended to cough but Ruby just grinned. "Did you just squeak?"

"What? No, of course not." Aurum felt his face getting warm. "Did you want something?"

"We need to talk," Ruby said.

"Okay. Uh, what about?" Aurum asked. He had a feeling he knew what she was going to say.

"About last Friday." Yep, Aurum was right.

Ruby looked around. "Could we go somewhere else?"

Aurum sighed. There was no avoiding this conversation. Aurum hadn't known the girl long but he had learned that Ruby was very persistent.

"Training room?" he suggested. "Since everyone is getting ready for the dance, I bet its empty right now."

"Sweet. Let's go."

"So Sun told you everything then," Aurum grunted, parrying Ruby's scythe attack.

Along the way to the training room, Ruby had asked how his new weapon building was coming along. When Aurum had told her that he had rebuilt his hatchets into tomahawks, Ruby had literally dragged him to Beacon's locker room to show her them. And by showing, Ruby meant testing them out in a training match. As they sparred, Ruby told Aurum about how she had gotten Sun to tell her what really happened on Friday.

"Well, yeah." Ruby twirled back, her massive scythe a crimson blur. "I mean, I haven't known you long but you don't strike me as someone to blurt out Blake's secret."

"Thanks." Aurum replied, stepping back from Ruby.

"So what's your plan now?" Ruby asked, relaxing her stance.

"What do you mean?"

Ruby rolled her eyes.

"You obviously like my sister," she said. "And I don't mean like as in like a friend. I mean like like, like really like her."

"And you're okay with that?" Aurum asked.

"Of course! You're a super cool guy. Why wouldn't I be okay with it?"

"Well, I have two younger sisters and I don't think I would be okay with any guys asking them out," Aurum admitted. "Maybe my brother Nave would be but not me."

"I think it's cute that you like Yang."

"Woah, let's not go there. How about cool?"

"Aurum, its cute." Ruby insisted. "So when are you going to ask Yang out?"

"She kind of hates me, so I guess never," Aurum said. Since Ruby didn't look she was going to attack, he slid his tomahawks into their holsters.

"Yang will get over it," Ruby said but she didn't sound to sure.

"Look," Aurum said, "with the Tournament coming up, it's for the best. We both need to get ready for it."

"But-"

"I'll make sure Slate doesn't tell anyone that Blake's a Faunus. You just make sure Weiss doesn't slit my throat. She looked furious last night."

"Yeah, she kind of still is." Ruby shifted uneasily. "What if I tell Yang the truth? Would that help?"

"Don't do that," Aurum said. "I'm serious, its better this way. Okay, Ruby?"

"Fine," Ruby grumbled. "But you people are so confusing. If you and Yang just talked, you two could fix all of this."

"Yeah, well where is the fun in that." Aurum tried to force a smile but he knew Ruby wasn't fooled.

"I'm sure if you just talked to her, Yang will understand."

Wanting a change in subject, Aurum asked, "So, are you still going to the dance tonight?"

"Yep," Ruby said.

"What about Blake? Is she still not coming?"

"Yang is confident Blake will be there. I think the two of them talked yesterday, so we'll see."

"It would make Sun's night if she came," Aurum said. He glanced around for a clock. "Hey, do you know how long we've been here?"

"Um, it's almost three o'clock," Ruby said, checking her Scroll.

"We should probably go shower and get ready," Aurum said. This might be his first dance, but he knew that girls liked to take their time getting ready for them. Who knew how long it would take for Ruby to get ready when she had someone like Weiss as a teammate? Aurum had a feeling that Weiss was going to make sure Ruby looked beautiful for tonight. Ruby probably needed all the time she could get to meet Weiss' high standards.

"Ugh, I guess so."

"Something wrong?"

"I don't want to get dressed up for the dance," Ruby moaned. "I just want to stay in my hood."

"Come on. It'll be fun," Aurum said. Like the other Huntsmen schools, Haven made their male students get uniforms for tonight: black suits with orange trim and bowtie. The girls were allowed to choose what they wore. Many of the guys complained about this but Aurum didn't mind. The suit was the nicest looking thing he owned. Sure, he would prefer his hoodie and leather jacket so he could understand Ruby's complaint.

He said goodbye to Ruby at the door, both of them heading back to their dorms to get ready.

A few hours, one warm shower, a light dinner, and a lot of sitting around later, Aurum stood in Beacon's entry hall. A lot of other students were there as well: it seemed to be a common place to wait for one's date. Despite this, the hall was getting set up for tomorrow morning. First and third year huntsmen and huntresses would be meeting in the hall in less than twelve hours to choose their own assignments. The holo screens that had been present when Aurum's team had chosen their mission were being set back up around the edges of the room. A space had been cleared around the stage as workers scurried around, running wires and checking the sound system.

Aurum was trying to stay out of their way a best he could, standing off to the side, fidgeting with the cuffs of his suit. He had made the mistake of messing with them earlier and now the button was undone and wasn't going back in without a fight.

If only he could ask Slate for help with this. Slate was used to this sort of thing, having grown up going to family parties with Mistral's elites.

Aurum scowled. He didn't need Slate's help. He hadn't seen his teammate all day. Aurum had gotten ready for the dance with his friends who had lent him their dorm for the past couple nights. They had just gotten back from Huntsman assignment today, so Aurum would need to find a new place to stay tonight. Otherwise it was back to his old dorm.

With a little extra force, the button slid back into place. Making a vow to not mess with his cuffs again, Aurum checked his Scroll for the time. 7:37pm.

The dance had started at 7:00, but Aurum and Silvia had agreed to meet in the entry hall at 7:30. That way, the dance would be well underway by the time they arrived. As Silvia put it, there was no point in being the first people at the dance.

It wasn't like Silvia to be late. Aurum had spent the last couple minutes watching dates meet up and go to the dance. Even Sun, who was seldom on time, had walked by. Sun had been too busy fussing with his tie to notice Aurum.

Aurum couldn't help but notice that Sun was by himself. Guess Blake was not going to the dance after all. Aurum tried not to think about how he may have jeopardized Sun's chances of going with Blake.

"You look nice."

Silvia stood a couple feet away, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Aurum's heart skipped a beat. He had always considered Silvia beautiful. Hell, every guy at Haven Academy had a crush on her.

But tonight, Silvia was stunning. She wore a white dress with a silver sash around her waist. Her silvery hair, typically kept in a braid, was pinned up in a low bun to the side, a few strands of hair hanging loss around her face.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. Aurum realized he had been staring.

"No, it's just…" Aurum wasn't sure what to say. "You look amazing."

"Why, thank you." Silvia said. "You look very handsome yourself."

"Thanks." Aurum rocked a little on his feet. "You want to get going?"

"Sure," Silvia said, offering her arm.

Aurum interlinked his arm with hers. As they left, Aurum could feel the stares of the other guys still in the entry hall. They were all probably wondering how someone like Aurum could get a goddess as his date to the dance, because that was what Silvia was tonight.

"So, where are Henna and Slate?" Aurum asked as they stepped into the cool night air. All of the lights on Beacon's grounds were dark except for the ones in the massive ballroom. Aurum was surprised that the CCT was dark but then again, it had probably been closed to the public for tonight. Atlas security was no doubt taking no chances with anyone sneaking into Beacon for the dance. Although only students and teachers were allowed into the dance, that didn't mean that there hadn't been times when someone who wasn't a Huntsmen had tried to crash the party. And with the recent White Fang attacks, Atlas was on the lookout.

"They're already at the dance," Silvia said, answering Aurum's question.

"They're already there?" Aurum repeated. "If those two beat us there, then we are officially late."

"I'm sorry you had to wait," Silvia said. "It took me longer to get ready then I thought. I've felt so tired recently."

"Don't worry about it. I wasn't waiting long," Aurum insisted. "Have you been having trouble sleeping lately?"

"No, it's not that." Silvia thought for a moment. "I don't know why I feel so tired recently. Maybe it's just the stress of the tournament coming up."

"Yeah, maybe. We don't have to stay out late tonight if you're not up to it."

"Oh, no I'm fine," Silvia said. "It's going to be an awesome night; I'm not missing it because I'm tired."

"Okay, but if you want to head back to the dorm early, just let me know," Aurum said. He didn't want Silvia to feel obligated to staying at the dance late because of him.

She gave his arm a firm squeeze.

"Aurum," Silvia said, "this dance only happens once every two years. You and I are going to make the most of it, got it? There's a dance floor that we need to tear up."

Aurum grinned. "You got it."


End file.
